Fernando Alonso flips his opinion of Lewis Hamilton, now claims 'he does no mistakes'

Fernando Alonso has yet again praised his old rival, Lewis Hamilton, for driving exceptionally well and making no mistakes during the race. Despite being fierce rivals in their prime, Alonso has flipped his perspective on the seven-time world champion and has started lauding him with praise.

Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, Fernando Alonso expressed how he is enjoying his battle with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. He recalled his wheel-to-wheel battle with Hamilton and stated how he is an F1 legend who does not make any mistakes. He said:

“He’s a legend of our sport. We saw in Australia, I think we spent the whole race within two seconds of distance, playing with the distance a little bit. He has no weak point, he does no mistakes. He’s a very tough competitor. To beat him, you need always something special. So this is the type of guys that you want to challenge.”

It is no secret that Fernando Alonso had a fierce rivalry with Lewis Hamilton back in late 2000s. Both had several on-track battles and off-track cold wars when they were teammates at McLaren in 2007.

While many might be delighted to see both the legends of the sport joining hands and appreciating one another, others would still want them to fight fiercely on track and reignite the rivalry they once had.

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Former senior Ferrari employee revealed how Fernando Alonso was worried about Lewis Hamilton

An unnamed former Ferrari staffer recently revealed that the only driver Fernando Alonso was afraid of was Lewis Hamilton. The Spaniard knew what Hamilton was capable of and was seen as the only obstruction in Alonso's path to winning a race. The anonymous employee told Motorsport Magazine:

“In my time at Ferrari, Lewis was the only other driver Fernando [Alonso] worried about. Yes, other drivers might have been in faster cars and he’d accept that. But on a Grand Prix weekend whenever you’d discuss the challenges, it was only ever Hamilton that Fernando referenced as being a threat, solely because of what he could deliver as a driver.”

He added:

“I think Fernando had matured since 2007 when, as a team-mate, he’d been shocked that a rookie could be at his level, be a threat to him immediately and had not reacted well. With hindsight, he understood that Hamilton alone stands as something beyond the norm. I got the impression that there was no one else on Fernando’s radar as a rival.”

It is clear that Hamilton shocked Alonso back in 2007 by performing extremely well despite being a rookie. Hence, the 41-year-old always saw the Briton as his main rival throughout his F1 career.

History repeats itself as both are racing each other once again in the 2023 F1 season.