Lewis Hamilton has admitted he messaged Fernando Alonso to pacify relations between the two after a war of words in the press following the European Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s penalty for passing the Safety Car during the Valencia event was felt by Ferrari in general and Alonso in particular to be insufficient and the outcome deeply unjust. Alonso singled out his ex-team-mate for criticism on the grounds that the Englishman had not ‘obeyed the rules.’
Hamilton responded by telling journalists that Alonso must be jealous, and that he must have been in another world to have been overtaken by a Sauber, as Alonso was in the dying laps of the grand prix.
This provoked a storm of comment on Spanish F1 sites and blogs, including some overt racism. But today Hamilton told Reuters that he had patched things up with Alonso.
“We are in touch. He has my number and I have his number. We messaged the other day, things are cool.
“I just messaged him to see how he was doing and he said everything’s cool and he knows how the racing world works and this is a tough year.”
The news is unlikely fundamentally to change the relationship between the two, which has always been ultra-competitive since their tempestuous season in the same team in 2007.
