Watch: Fernando Alonso's legendary defensive driving against Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 F1 Hungarian GP

The 2021 Hungarian GP was memorable for a lot of reasons. Especially for Team Alpine. While Esteban Ocon cherished his maiden victory for the team, former Alpine driver Fernando Alonso gave Lewis Hamilton a tough chase.

In the words of Lewis Hamilton:

“Fernando gave me hell out there”

Here is the footage of one of the great wheel-to-wheel battles in F1 history:

Lewis Hamilton made the first move, with Alonso a second away on lap 54. But he failed to get past the Spaniard until Turn 1 on lap 65.

In one of the "being on the edge" moments during the race, Hamilton challenged Alonso on lap 63 around the outside of Turn 2 and zoomed past him flat-out at Turn 3.

They even made contact as they approached Turn 4. Alonso got too close to Hamilton, with his rear-right tire rubbing Hamilton's front left.

During the post-race interview, Lewis Hamilton said:

“It was awesome racing, pretty on edge at least once but great racing.”

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Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso's healthy rivalry goes back a long way

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were in the McLaren. Being two of the oldest drivers on the grid, Hamilton and Alonso have shared a healthy rivalry both on and off the track. Their friendly rivalry was also captured in a popular commercial for Mercedes-Benz in 2007.

There were some bittersweet moments between the two drivers when Alonso made comments in the past that seemed to look down on Hamilton's achievements. In reply to that, the Mercedes driver posted a picture of the Spaniard below him on the podium.

Driving the second-fastest car on the grid on the same tarmac as Hamilton, Alonso and Hamilton are still in the game to settle their rivalry.

In an interview with Marca, Alonso said:

“I have a lot of respect for him, After all, we have rarely coincided in our careers in the same place."

Speaking further, he said:

“Maybe this year we find ourselves racing together and with similar cars, in this part of the year. In Australia, we were within a two-second margin the whole race and it was a very close fight."

Alonso acknowledged that Hamilton is one of the best drivers in history but also pointed out that he has had a fast and dominant car for many years.

And with a good car, Schumacher won seven titles, Lewis also won seven titles, Max Verstappen is on his way to winning his third, and Alonso has won two titles.