Mercedes have been involved in quite some tomfoolery over the Italian GP weekend. Team Principal Toto Wolff dismissed Max Verstappen’s record-breaking win to just call it another Wikipedia statistic. But getting the mind games underway was Lewis Hamilton before the race weekend began. He trashed the Dutchman’s Red Bull teammates, including Sergio Perez, calling them subpar. It has been only a week since that and Fernando Alonso has doubled down on Perez.

The Guadalajara-born racer has been having a tough time this year. His performance considerably descended to even make the RB19 look like a midfield car. Hence, Hamilton served an insult that was uncalled for but somewhat accurate. Fortunately for Perez, the RB19 is quick, irrespective of driver performance and Perez has been able to hold onto P2 in the WDC.

This is where Alonso comes into the picture. The Spaniard too is not concerned with what Perez is doing. In fact, he has diverged from Perez to focus on Hamilton’s threat in the Drivers’ Championship. “In the Drivers’ Championship, to be honest, we are more focused on Lewis than Checo,” Alonso said as quoted by Racefans.

Earlier this year, Fernando was quite bullish on his prospects to fight Perez for P2 in the championship. This was when Aston Martin was getting podiums left, right & center. With their drop in form since then, the Silverstone team has also slipped from P2 in the constructors championship behind Mercedes & Ferrari to 4th place. So naturally, Alonso knows his P3 in the drivers’ championship may also be under threat from Hamilton.

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In one way, Alonso might have given a compliment to Hamilton. But in another interview, he also undercut the 7x champ’s achievements.

Fernando Alonso attributes Lewis Hamilton’s career achievements to luck

Teammates at McLaren in 2007 but rivals always – the Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso story. Of late, they have shown immense respect for each other in press conferences. Yet, in his latest interview, along with dissing Verstappen, Alonso did so for Hamilton too.

“When Lewis went to Mercedes, he didn’t build anything,” Alonso told De Telegraaf. “It was simply a change in regulations that helped him.” 6 out of Lewis’ 7 World Championships were dissed and all success was attributed to regulation changes. Ouch!

The Aston Martin racer has transformed into a more confident and fiery character. It’s nothing compared to his early years in F1 but the competitiveness has snowballed.

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