One of the most debated incidents of last weekend s Bahrain Grand Prix was the clash between former team-mates Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
On lap 2 at Turn Three, Alonso looked suspiciously slow to exit the corner, causing Hamilton to hit the back of the Renault car and lose his front wing in the process. There were questions over whether Alonso had lifted or brake-tested the Brit, particularly given the history between the pair.
However Alonso has insisted that he did nothing wrong and he does now know why Hamilton hit him.
“I think we were running too close and, for sure, maybe he did not realize how close we were,†the Spaniard explained. “He jumped into my rear wing I am sure on the first couple of laps, if you are eighth or ninth, you try to recover places too quickly.â€
When questioned over the brake testing allegations, Alonso replied, “Well, Pay Symonds told me now about that rumour and he has printed now the data to show everybody. It is totally rubbish but what can I do?â€
Pat Symonds is backing his driver saying Alonso did nothing wrong. “Fernando was coming out of the turn and accelerating down the straight,” Symonds began. “He reached fifth gear, at 227km/h, on full throttle, no touching of the brakes or anything like that. And you can see on the accelerometer the impact. He got hit from behind.
“I think all I can say from our side is that there is no blame attributable to Fernando, which is what some of the speculation might be. But it does say we are not getting onto the straights very well, we are suffering a bit with traction, engine speed and engine torque.”
When questioned over what he thought about the brake testing allegations from members of the paddock, Symonds replied, “Well, they are not as expert as they think then. We have the data and there is nothing untoward there. You don’t need to be an expert to see that.”
Lewis Hamilton is also playing down the issue saying it was just a racing incident. “”I have no idea. I was behind him I went to move to the right and he went to move to the right as well and I ended up on the back somehow. It’s racing,”
