Hamilton crash cost me a podium – Alonso

2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Sepang, 2011

Fernando Alonso said his collision with Lewis Hamilton may have cost him a top-three finish in Malaysia.

Alonso clipped the back of Hamilton’s car while trying to pass the McLaren, breaking his front win.

Alonso said: “It was very close. The rear wing didn’t work for me in last part of the race so I couldn’t overtake in straight line which was the best place.

“Unfortunately we touched and I broke my front wing and we had to pit again.

“It cost me maybe a podium today but we will try again in China.”

However Alonso said Ferrari’s pace was “much better” in the race following their problems in qualifying.

“Today we were fighting wheel to wheel with the McLarens and Webber. That was a surprise for us because in Melbourne we were not close enough.”

Both drivers have been summoned to appear before the stewards following the collision.

2011 Malaysian Grand Prix


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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    126 comments on “Hamilton crash cost me a podium – Alonso”

    1. It also cost Hamilton a podium. Maybe we’ll call Alonso the new “Crash Kid” who can’t overtake ;P

      1. It also cost Hamilton a podium.

        I don’t think so. There were other reasons for that, mainly to do with the hard tyres Lewis was on.

        1. Alonso needs to get his head out of his own proverbial and admit when he makes a mistake instead of saying “we collided”.

          1. That’ true. And, Alonso needs to go back to racing school and learn how to overtake cleanly. It’s a basic skill he repeatedly seems to lack. This isn’t the first time he cannot overtake Hamilton. He failed in Indianapolis 2007 too. This time the McLaren so down on pace on the hard tyres when compared to the Ferrari that Alonso should have easily got past with or without DRS. His overtaking skills seem to be non-existant!

            1. Hamilton was losing alot of time even before he was hit, i doubt he lost out on the podium and what ’bout McL strategies? they didnt help… bring on P3 China cant wait.

      2. How did it cost Hamilton a podium? He was well of the pace with no hope of returning.

        Hamilton dropped the throttle as he was on the straight which was strange so Alonso just didn’t expect it.

        1. Are you implying that Lewis brake-tested Alonso? C’mon man, you might be a fan of Alonso but this is a bit too wild

          1. How is dropping the throttle brake testing? It just looked a bit strange how much pace Alonso gained within a split second. What turned into a straight forward pass was suddenly a quick dash to get out of the way.

            1. How do you know he dropped the throttle?

            2. Several times during the race Alonso was using other drivers as markers, even if there was a doubt over that incident Ferrari and Alonso would be all over it. I agree Hamiltons strategy cost him the podium and Alonso would have got 3rd without the incident but to imply wrong doing on Hamiltons part is probably a Red tinted view on the incident.

            3. Keep in mind that Alonso is not blaming Lewis. So no need for all of you to get super defensive now.

              It was a racing incident and imo Alonso paid a bigger price considering Lewis was going to have to pit again anyway.

            4. he didnt drop the throttle at all. Alonso’s sharp duck out from the slipstreamcreated the impression of a sudden speed difference but the closing speed of Alonso remained the same until contact imo

          2. How do you know he dropped the throttle? by hearing in the audio.

      3. Lewis wasn’t ending up on the podium today. He ran wide and let Webber through and then pitted again.

      4. Crash or not Hamilton could not get on the podium today. if crash, as we all know both of them out, if not, Alonso would have passed him and got on the podium. so there’s no room for Hamilton.

      5. I don’t think it did.
        Hamilton was going backwards at a rate before that. It probably cost him 5th though.

        1. alonso just went in too deep before he came out of the slipstream. only good thing, he didnt puncture lewis’s tyre in the process. that wud’ve ruined hamilton’s race even more.

      6. what race you watch? by reading your comment I can see how biased you are. Hamilton had nothing going on. alonso was way faster than him and alonso was faster than button and would has pass him if it wasn’t because of the crash and the fact that his dsr wasn’t working.
        last but not least alonso was the 2nd fastest car in the race and he was the second fastest in australia. the ferrari team just need to figure what’s going on on qualifying. about calling him ‘crash kid” how many pass alonso has made in the last few seasons and how many times he has crashed. Almost never! don’t you remember when hamilton crashed into alonso a few years back. just watch how many cars alonso has passed in the last two races.
        just check some facts before writing biased and stupid comments.

        1. I agree with what you said. Just remember last year, Hamilton in Monza and Singapore, he crashed whilst trying to overtake. Those were racing incidents too but these guys calling Alonso a “crash kid” is quite unfair.

      7. and I agree with someone here. it seems as hamilton lift it for a moment intentionally and that cuahgt alonso off guard. it would be really need to see the telemetry data

      8. Tommy – are you kidding! he doesn’t crash nearly as much as Hamilton…or Webber….or Vettel….or Massa…and so on and so on. I can only think of one last year – Monaco qualifying.

    2. Yep, it did cost you dearly Fernando.
      However, there’s no-one to blame but yourself.

      1. it was just one of them things. racing incident but alonso fault.

        but it wasnt a ‘its his fault’ incident

        just racing.

        like bahrain 08 when lewis hit the back of him. 2 cars with different closing speeds. lewis did nothing wrong. and fernando couldnt really do that much more. he wouldnt of expected lewis to be that slow. Braking or lifting wouldnt of stopped it infact braking or lifting would of meant he hit the middle of the car and would of been even worse.

        racing incident 100%

      2. He is not blaming any one. He is just saying that crash cost him a third place. Hamilton at that point was not in the race, he was totally on defensive. But on the incident, only Alonso come out with damages, Hamilton was ok after that, so I don’t see how it cost him a 5th place.
        And yes, at the moment of the crash Hamilton did had a strange slow down.

      3. not sure.Hammilton slow down it was clear.I hope it was just a race fact not a brake test.

    3. Definitely. Unfortunately for him it was his own fault.

      I seriously doubt Hamilton was brake-testing him as they suggested on the BBC forum. He was just slow.

      1. I agree with you. I think that was more to do with Hamilton being unable to get the power down at the corner exit.

        1. Actually on second thought maybe Alonso just caught a draft at the corner exit and understeered a little. Either way its Alonso’s fault:
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4hT0SOqbCw

        2. furthermore, that was an acceleration area. In my opinion it just a very poor mistake by Alonso.

          1. Lewis… Alonso… is… faster… than… you.

            1. It…is…not…funny…anymore

            2. it…will…not…stop…being…funny.

            3. agree,lewis… alonso,button,heidfield,webber.. is .. faster… than .. you. haha

    4. If only you had kept your cool like Kobayashi or someone did at the exact same place in the exact same situation one lap later…

      Shame.

    5. I was surprised by Ferrari´s/Alonso´s performance today, they were strong enough to fight for second position, several pit stop mistakes cost him that but he was still able to fight for P3. Shame that this collision cost him all.

      1. That’s what i noticed more about the whole thing too. Ferrari aren’t really much slower than Red Bull and Mclaren in the race. They simply have a qualifying problem.
        This means they are actually a lot more in this championship than we think they are.

    6. All that being said I think Alonso’s DRS failure made for more exciting racing. Weird, eh.

      1. I agree. He says it himself

        The rear wing didn’t work for me in last part of the race so I couldn’t overtake in straight line which was the best place.

        I think DRS was just a bit too much here.

      2. I agree too. DRS was disappointing in this race. This was exactly what i was afraid of seeing and i saw them today. Being in-frond was like a disadvantage. If the other car had DRS and Kers you were a sitting duck.
        In Melbourne is was subtle enough. Here it was ridiculous.

        I don’t want to see this kind of overtaking. They were cruising threw. Fake **** racing.

        1. Hamilton and Heidfeld in the first stint. Hamilton had DRS and KERS and could hardy catch Heidfeld on the straight.

          1. I think the Renault had some serious pace at the beginning of the race today.

    7. Nice showing by Ferrari and Alonso, this is how you keep in it when you don’t have the raw pace (well, don’t have accidents either but you get my point).

      1. Yeah that’s quite promising. I mean race pace. Slow pit stops + DRS failure and he was still able to keep it up with the pack at the front. I think with all thing going well he could have snatched a second place.

        Qualifying – that’s where issues have to be addressed for Turkey or as a last resort for Spain.

      2. Yer I was on balance happy with the race, despite the result Ferrari showed some positive pace in race and was quicker than Vettel for a long period and should really have gotten a podium. Still need to have must pace but it seems all is not lost.

      3. But they did have pace. That was the surprise. The pace was missing only in qualifying.

    8. Hamilton crash cost me a podium – Alonso

      No, Fernando. Your mistake cost you a podium. I don’t really see how Hamilton can take any of the blame for that one. He didn’t cut, he didn’t weave, and he was clearly slower than you. You just blew it, that’s all.

      1. Yes it was Fernando’s fault but I don’t think he’s blaming Lewis he just says the crash cost him.

        1. Well, that’s the way it comes off in the article title.

          1. Is it the title or the comment of the driver that really matters?

            1. +1

              Tbh I saw the title and knew we’d get dozens of “Alonso’s moaning” comments but thats the way it goes. Alonso was absolutely correct in his analysis that the incident cost him a podium, and he didn’t blame Lewis for it. I don’t know what people have a problem with, people seem to become completely irrational when there’s any incident involving Alonso and/or Hamilton.

          2. No it doesn’t, it comes across as he’s saying the crash with Lewis (Which is what it was) cost him. It was 100% his fault but it was a “Hamilton crash” in terms of Alonso.

            If Petrov had of done that would you say the same thing?

            1. as he’s saying the crash with Lewis (Which is what it was) cost him

              What do you expect him to say? a crash with bernie ecclestone cost him podium?

            2. Come on guys, I think we are getting a bit picky here.

          3. You are just parsing the title in a very particular way. “Hamilton crash” is just the label he gives to the incident he had.

          4. If he will say it in SPANISH it’s different story. Lost in translation..

          5. @PM. Give the article a better read. He isn’t blaming Hamilton. Maybe it could be a little bias clouding your judgement.

          6. I’m assuming Keith wrote that title, if Alonso said it, it would be in quotation marks just like all the other articles where the title contains a quotation. ie “We pitted too early” – Hamilton and Vettel: “You put your trousers down and see what you’ve got”.

            You’ve just let your Alonso hate blind you from reality. Again.

        2. Answering questions for a spanish TV he clearly blamed Hamilton for making “dangerous movements at 300 km/h”, for the amazement of the journalists. As always, it is never his fault.

          1. Stick a micro-phone in front of an adrenaline filled driver after they get out of the car and they will always tell a one-sided and completely distorted view of what happened. See what Button said about the Massa incident immediately after it happened or what Vettel said about the incident with Webber in Turkey.

            Even when I go Karting no one will ever admit error in a controversial incident immediately after it happens. Racing drivers always believe they’re right, its part of their competitive nature. People hold Alonso to an unrealistic standard because they want to claim he’s a somehow worse than other racing drivers.

            1. And the stewards seemingly agree with Alonso…

      2. Come on. He said “Hamilton crash” meaning the collision with Hamilton, which is true, because it damaged his front wing, costing him a podium. There is no word he blames Hamilton for that one.

      3. He didn’t say Hamilton cost him a podium, he said Hamilton crash cost him a podium which means the crash into Hamiltons car. He coud have left the Hamilton-word out of it, but he did in no way imply that it was Hamiltons fault.

        It was a stupid mistake, but things happen. Would have preferred seeing him on the podium after a really good race for him (up to that point).

        1. What everyone other than PM said :P Sorry PM but I really don’t think he’s blaming Lewis here.

          1. Alonso “Unfortunately we touched”

            Not exactly the same as the title but still a somewhat dishonest comment since it was 100% his own fault.

            1. To be dishonest you have to lie…
              He didn’t lie, but you just did.

            2. So he should have said fortunately we touched?

        2. Agree, he doesn’t seem to be blaming the other driver, just the incident, doesn’t really talk about blame for it, just the fact it happened. He is right that he could have been on the podium if it hadn’t been for that.

      4. I agree 100%. But then this is what Alonso has been doing since he arrived to McLaren: always blaming the guys in front of him.

    9. Ferrari had good pace today. Massa had at least 4 overtakes, Alo was driving beautifully too then it seemed to go wrong with bad pitstops and that mistake by Fernando. Good raw performance but silly errors cost them.

      1. Yeah, they have to be pleased with performance. now they need to find quali pace then they could challenge to Redbull and Mclaren. but it would be much better if they got good result today.

      2. I think they can be satisfied with their position now. Massa showed very solid racing, shame about Alonso but they were close enough in the race.

        Know what to work on, get it going for the next races.

        1. Actually I had forgot about Massa having a problem in his pitstop (did we see that, actually? FOM?).

          So if he lost several places there, he might have been even within a shout of the podium as well.

          1. They did show it. It was a very slow stop as they had a problem with the front left tyre.

            1. You’re going to love this one Steph – Massa was Ferrari’s best driver in Sepang! Alonso may have finished higher had he not crashed, but let’s enjoy Massa’s form while we can, eh? :P

      3. They need a complete overhaul of the team that does the pit-stops. The Monza pit-stop was only one of the best pitstops from Ferrari last season while RB seem to be making it a habit. Ferrari are losing 6-8 seconds a race because of pitstops and now that they have more stops than previous years, it would do well to release the car faster. The race pace is a lot better, hope they come back stronger.

        Forza Ferrari!

        1. I heard they hired ex aerial acrobatics chief for team work but it seems doesn’t work yet…it gets worse than last year.

    10. 1. Slow pit stop gives his position to Button&Hamilton

      2. He was too hurry to pass Hamilton even though he was much faster.

      I’m so sorry for today as his fan. really…

      1. Yeah I’m disappointed as well. I thought he would learn from all the errors he made at the start of last season.

      2. He was too hurry to pass Ham for 2 reasons:

        – It’s expected to be quicker on fresh hard tyres for ar 5 laps, thereafter performance equals
        – At that point Alonso was aiming for position 2.

        Now what the hell is going on with the Ferrari pit guys! Too many errors

    11. Ferrari have many positives to take from this race. I think Alonso should be pleased with today especially since he’s the kind of guy who looks ahead.

      1. Yeah, it´s positive, but at the same time I´m angry on the way things turned out. Too many mistakes today can cost him the championship in November. Remember Fernando struggling in Malaysia last year and think about how things could have been different in abu Dhabi if he had finished last year´s Malaysian Grand Prix on the podium…

        1. he had no clutch last year in australia and was still about to get points until the engine blew.

          so what do you mean mate?

    12. No, poor tire management cost Hamilton a podium. Alonso forgetting to press the brake pedal cost him a podium.

      If only Hamilton were as sensitive to his tires as his apologists are to his feelings…

      1. No a poor set of tyres did… no consistency they were slow straight out of the pits nothing to do with tyre management.

      2. I think it is impossible to wear out your tyres before you exit the pits. So far no driver has been able to achieve that feat and neither did Hamilton. The tyres wear DOA.

      3. if he pressed brake pedal once realising how slow lewis was out of the corner he would of just speared straight into the back of him (like webber/kova).

        it was fernandos fault, but braking wouldnt of achieved much.

        just a misjudgment. but more of that will happen with cars running around in totally different phase of tyres management and closing speeds.

    13. “Unfortunately we touched and I broke my front wing and we had to pit again

      WE TOUCHED? lol… should say “I” touched!

      1. Someone teach people in this comments section how to interpret statements of the drivers…

      2. Man, you really are desperately looking for something in his words to hit back at him, aren’t you?

        1. Nope, but it is obvoius that some are desperately looking to blame someone for something he said it was his fault and twist his words just to have another reason to express their antipathy for him. See the “Hamilton crash” discussion above.

          1. Wallbreaker is correct. The title is a bit “tabloid” like though.

            And he was correct to say “we” touched, because they did touch.

            People read too much into non-english speaking drivers expressions. They dont always say what they mean because of the language gap.

            You need to look at what they say and then remember that its about as reliable was winter testing…

          2. I am not trying to be harsh on him or whatever you think…

            Why can’t he just be honest and take reponsability? say; I tried to overtake him, made a mistake and hit him? Saying WE touched is simply arrogance.

            It has got nothing to do with beeing spanish or english. If they were isde by side i would have understood but he was behind…He hit him from behind not from the side.

            Alonso’s english is quiet good and he knows the difference betwen WE and I.

    14. Alonso in stewards room.

      1. Hamilton in the stewards room.

        As DC said its standard procedure after an on track incident.

    15. No, Ferrari cost both their drivers a podium by having bad pitstops.

      I reckon the stewards should clamp down on Alonso here. We’ve seen a few near misses in recent years of cars darting out from behind too late, and it isn’t a trend that should continue for safety reasons.

      1. Ferrari were awful with pit stops today. Completely took Massa out of the running.

        1. yer it was infuriating, they fluffed stops with Masssa and Alonso, I think they should schedule a load of pit stop practice between now and China

      2. clamp down on a alonso? get a grip man

        lewis never got penalised for doing the same error in bahrain 08 which no one has mentioned.

        and lewis never penalties for racing incidents with massa and webber last season. and rightly so you cant penalise people for racing.

        only for purpose take outs which is very rare.

      3. Clamping down on Alonso for what exactly? Expecting Lewis to drive fast?

        Is it really unusual to expect Lewis to drive fast? So unusual that Alonso should have expected it?

        1. And you cant say Alonso didnt try to tern out. He was on full lock the entire time.

    16. It is simple. Alonso blew a certain podium position and worse he could get some penalty for the next race. It was an avoidable accident.

      1. why a penalty?

        and please give references to previous incidents.

        i will give you a few examples to help you out. Bahrain 08, Monza 10, singapore 10.

        i await a sensible answer(LOL)

    17. Hamilton did that on purpose. two things can be done, get on the power early to defend or get on the power late and pray ur car isnt damaged if and when the guy hits u. those r just the sort of unsportsman-like dirty tricks Hamilton does. Last year weaving to break the tow from Petrov(dangerous driving!!) Hamilton just got lucky he didnt get a puncture. Im glad Fernando finished ahead of him. Ferrari is coming back. FORZA!!!!

      1. You forgot to add Hamilton’s dirty trick of running wide so Webber will follow and crash into the wall. Or running so slow to bring out the safety car and slow down the race to give a chance to rain falling. All dirty tricks, I know.

      2. nah mate. lewis never did that.

      3. why would Hamilton do it on purpose. It was obviously Alonso’s mistake, he clipped the back of Hamilton because he didnt realise he was that close to him. End of. Hamilton doesnt do Dirty tricks, if i remember correctly, Alonso was the one with all the dirty tricks in 07, staying in the pit box so Hamilton wouldnt be able to get a qualifying lap in. Everyone does errors but it doesnt mean they are doing dirty tricks.

        HA! you make me laugh…that’s just pathetic.

    18. I can’t help but think that, while it’s true that Massa will be treated fairly if he keeps on par with Alonso performances, which is a massive job to do, it is much more difficult if pit crew screw it the very moment you are comfortably in front of him…

      No wonder about Massa’s reaction.

      1. ferrari already messed up alonso stop too. so not sure what your point is. as mclaren did lewis. ferrari and mclaren need to sort their pit stops out and fast.

        if there was team orders they would of moved massa out of the way on last lap.

        1. My point is Massa’s point of view.
          He desperately needs to match Alonso performances and results, it has been said over and over again.
          He was doing it, and his pit crew messed up (Alonso might have had problem at the pit stop, but really no match to Massa’s left wheel problem).
          It’s already extremely hard for Massa, he’s in a critical point of his career, bad luck is the last thing he needs right now and it’s the one he’s experiencing.

          I can really understand the feelings he showed onboard, that’s it. I wasn’t talking about TO.

          1. ah sorry mate misread it.

            didnt he over shoot his pit too?

        2. I’m also thinking about Button vs Massa battle in Australia when i talk about bad luck and bad moments. Alonso gained from that, overtaking Massa who was pretty much defenseless in that moment.
          Of course, Alonso was just doing his job perfectly. But being overtook by your team-mate beyond your own faults really adds to Massa’s critical situation and mental strenght.

          1. both alonso and massa had bad pit stops so there is nothing wrong there.

    19. An unfortunate incident. I was a little suprised to see Hamilton pushing Alonso right out though, even when he clearly knew he had a slower car. I’m not suggesting that Hamilton should have just pulled out of the way, but when you clearly have a much slower car, shouldnt he have given a little more consideration? If Hamilton was a Hispania car, on the same lap (unlikely, yes), we’d be cursing that driver for not getting out of the way.

      Essentially, there was more to gain for both if there was a little more sportmanship from both drivers. Hamilton would not have had any damage to the rear of his Mclaren and Alonso would have been on the podium.

      However, on the other hand, it’s this very rivalry which I love in F1. It’s similar to the Schumacher/Hakkinen, Schumacher/Hill, Senna/Prost/Mansell rivalries. It’s what F1 needs. It raises the tension and makes it more exciting to watch.

      Better luck next time Fernando!

      1. let fernando thrugh?? funny!

        1. not let fernando thrugh,but not lifting it for a sec so he would crash into him.alonso was better than him and in australia. the frrari just need to sort qualifying out. macca isnowhere near the ferrari or the bullsin race trim performance.

    20. “Our cars touched”.

      We’ve had various incidents in the past when walls have hit cars and Ammcos have overtaken drivers and gone ahead to brake test them. So nothing unusual in Alonso’s comment. :-)

    21. Mouse_Nightshirt
      10th April 2011, 13:10

      Now he has a 20 second penalty to boot. So it cost him more than a podium!

    22. The best overtakes are when the driver gets right up behind the car in front, deep in the slipstream and at the very last second they whip out. It looks so dangerous and risky, as the rear car passes unbeleivable close to the front runner – which makes it all the sweeter!

      Unfortunately for Alonso, he just got too close.

    23. Ha, Keith, you really might as well have named the article ‘Hamilton vs Alonso – discuss’ :P

    24. Pathetic decision by the stewards. No penalty should have been given. It was a racing incident. Purely and simply. This does nothing to ‘encourage overtaking’ in Formula one.

    25. I think Alonso underestimated his pace, when his got the tow, may be he used KERS which gave him a boost & couldn’t control his pace relative to his driving.

    26. Hamilton being knocked by alonso was a penalty in itself.It caused bad irrepairable damage and he dropped places because of it.And then still to impose a 20 second penalty to drop him further is once again the FIA showing their backing of ferrari.The 20 second penalty did not hurt alonso at all.

    27. Nice Tabloid news heading, Keith

      1. How do you mean? That’s what he said.

    28. Moving on from the usual playground debate, it was also worth noting what a poor start FA had again. In his Renault days he was regularly doing great starts – not really seen great stuff from him off the grid for quite a while.

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