"The guy is a master": Fernando Alonso's ability to 'rub salt into the wounds' explained by former F1 champion

Former F1 champion Damon Hill recently praised Fernando Alonso and dove deep into how he races and brilliantly picks his battles and words.

After the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP, the 41-year-old Spaniard is the talk of the town in F1. He finished on the podium after securing third position, beating both the Ferraris and Mercedes.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Hill explained how Fernando Alonso is a 'master' in understanding a race, which battles to pick, and what to say. He also mentioned how the Spaniard knows how to rub salt on wounds and be aggressive.

The former F1 champion said:

"The guy is a master. I mean, he is a master of understanding a race, he’s a master of competing, he seems to stay out of trouble, he has picked people off in the race and also he’s brilliant with his comments.

"You know, he knows exactly what to say to rub salt into the wounds if he has to. I think every racing driver looks at him and goes ‘now, there’s a very formidable competitor.’"

Prior to this, Damon Hill spoke about Fernando Alonso's decisions and how he has burned bridges with individuals and entire teams whenever he shifts to a new one. Moreover, several pundits and fans have admitted that his decisions to change teams have not been the best.

However, this is not the case with Aston Martin, as the two-time world champion is back on the podium with his new team.

On this, Hill stated:

"The view with Fernando was he kind of used to foul his nest a little bit when he went from one team to another, and he’s got a trail of kind of rather destroyed people behind him.

"And so his reputation didn’t help him, and he’s zagged when he should have zigged, but he certainly zagged the right way this time with Aston Martin, and so the joy was very self-evident."

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Fernando Alonso surprised to see Aston Martin's progress at the start of 2023 F1 season

After standing on the podium at the Bahrain GP, Fernando Alonso expressed his surprise at seeing Aston Martin's massive jump in performance. While speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, at the post-race press conference, the Spaniard said:

"Obviously, a perfect start for this project. We didn't expect to be that competitive. I think the aim in 2023 was, you know, getting the mix in the midfield, maybe leading that midfield and get close to the top three teams eventually.

"But even a podium maybe was not in the radar in 2023. And, and we found ourselves as the second best car today in Bahrain, or the whole weekend, like just behind Red Bull."

Almost no one on the grid was expecting the green British team to instantly become one of the top teams in 2023. As of now, Aston Martin sits in second place in the constructors' table, right behind Red Bull and ahead of both Mercedes and Ferrari.