Lewis Hamilton responds to Fernando Alonso calling him an ‘idiot’ after Belgian GP crash

Lewis Hamilton has claimed he “doesn’t care” after Fernando Alonso called the Mercedes star an “idiot” after their lap one crash at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton swept around the outside of Fernando Alonso in a bid to take second on lap one.

However, the pair made contact at Les Combes with Alonso’s front-wing smashing into Hamilton’s rear-right tyre. The impact chucked the Mercedes into the air with Hamilton forced to retire half a lap later. 

After the accident, Alonso blamed Hamilton as he swiped back at the seven-time champion. Speaking over radio, Alonso said: “Yeah, what an idiot! Closing the door from the outside. I mean, we had a mega start but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.”

Hamilton accepted the blame for the shunt as he recorded his first retirement of the season. He told Sky Sports F1: “No. Looking back at my footage, he was in my blind spot. I didn’t leave him enough space. It’s my fault today. Just so sorry to the team.

READ MORE: Fernando Alonso brands Lewis Hamilton an ‘idiot’ after crash

It comes a day after Hamilton stressed he would not miss his 2022 car as the team continues to struggle to match the frontrunners. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was angry ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix and admitted the team were already looking ahead to next year’s design.

He commented: “​​I think it’s clear the reaction from Lewis, the car was undrivable yesterday. It’s clear that our drivers don’t want anything to do with this car anymore. We need to find the right compromise because we’re still trying to find out what is happening and then next year’s development.”

He added: “We are lacking the answers. You cannot have a car that’s on pole in Budapest, albeit a very different track and different conditions, and then suddenly be almost two seconds off. So we need to look into data, dig deep and find out.”