"We all do mistakes"- Sebastian Vettel defends Lewis Hamilton after Fernando Alonso's 'very disrespectful' comments

Sebastian Vettel believes Fernando Alonso should have been more respectful towards Lewis Hamilton after the Spaniard made disparaging remarks about the Briton on the opening lap of the 2022 F1 Belgian GP.

Hamilton and Alonso had an unfortunate coming together on the opening lap of the race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. This resulted in the Mercedes man retiring moments later, while Fernando Alonso did not mince his words to describe Hamilton's error on the radio.

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Sebastian Vettel feels that what Alonso did was 'disrespectful' on the two-time world champion's part. While speaking to the media during the 2022 F1 Dutch GP weekend, the German said:

“It’s an emotional reaction. If you are in that situation, you are worried first because you might have damage to the car and that might be the end of your race. But I think we are aware of the fact radio calls are public and I think it was a very disrespectful comment. Lewis [Hamilton] is one of the fairest drivers on the grid. I don’t think he had any intentions to be unfair and did a mistake. We all do mistakes – even Fernando sometimes does mistakes.”

Hamilton owned up to his mistake in the media pen after the race and even left Fernando Alonso a signed Mercedes cap as a peace offering. Alonso has also since admitted that his comments were made in the heat of the moment and that Lewis Hamilton was a legend of our time.

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Martin Brundle defends Lewis Hamilton from Fernando Alonso's criticism, calls him 'one of the fairest and cleanest drivers'

After Lewis Hamilton was called an 'idiot' by Fernando Alonso for crashing into the Spaniard on the opening lap of the 2022 F1 Belgian GP, former F1 driver Martin Brundle defended Hamilton and called the comments unfair.

The seven-time world champion started in P4 and found himself wheel-to-wheel with Alonso by the time the pair had reached the end of the Kemmel straight. Hamilton, however, did not leave enough space for his former teammate and ended up colliding before subsequently retiring for the want of an uncharacteristic error.

Alonso sounded off on the radio, accusing Hamilton of being incapable of racing unless he started at the top of the grid, as he has done for the majority of his career with Mercedes.

In his column for Sky Sports, Brundle batted for his compatriot when he discussed the incident between the two world champions, where he wrote:

“Mercedes just couldn’t switch their tyres on in qualifying but would undoubtedly be better in a warm dry race. Lewis Hamilton didn’t get a chance to find out because of a rare error into the Les Combes chicane when he simply pinched into the side of Fernando Alonso whilst trying to go around the outside, and flying through the air.”

The Sky pundit then called Lewis Hamilton one of the fairest and cleanest drivers in the history of the sport. Brundle then cast his mind back to the 2021 Sao Paolo GP when the Briton overcame a 25-place grid penalty on a sprint weekend to win the feature race. He wrote:

“Fernando’s radio comments, albeit fuelled by anger and adrenaline, about Lewis only being able to win from the front were in my opinion wholly inaccurate and unfair. Lewis is one of the fairest and cleanest drivers in the history of F1, he hasn’t needed to resort to too many professional fouls given his relentless speed, and just cast your mind back to Brazil last year to remember how he can scythe through the field. Twice.”

Lewis Hamilton was also issued a warning by the FIA for not following the safety protocol and visiting the medical tent after his DNF at Spa, as is required by the rule book.