After what was looking set to be such a promising season for Leclerc and Ferrari, it’s safe to say that the season has become one giant missed opportunity for the Scuderia.

The Italians haven’t won the Drivers’ Championship since 2007 and the Constructors’ since 2008, with this year having been their closest yet to fighting for both.

In the end, reliability gremlins, strategic problems and driver errors have allowed Verstappen to win 12 times this season.

READ: Ferrari change stance on new rule after accusing FIA of helping Mercedes

Leclerc was leading at both Barcelona and Azerbaijan when he suffered a power unit failure and was leading at Silverstone and Hungary when the team cost him the race through their own inept strategy.

Whilst a lot of blame can be put on the Italians, Leclerc does have to take some of the blame, following errors whilst leading at France and whilst in third at Emilia Romagna.

Instead of fighting Verstappen for the title, he’s in a tight fight with Sergio Pérez for second in the Drivers’ Championship.

Leclerc’s positive approach and attitude to never feeling beaten can be applauded; however, the Monegasque revealed the exact point where he knew the championship was over.

“After the Belgian Grand Prix I realised that I was not going to win the world championship,” said Leclerc to RacingNews365 ahead of the 2022 Japanese GP.

“We came back just after the summer break and then of course you think back to the first part of the year, but I still believed in the title!”

“Then we saw that gap in performance between us and Red Bull at Spa, a gap we had never seen in the first part of the year, so I knew it was going to be very difficult.”

Verstappen won at Spa despite having started P14, in what further cemented his imperious stature over the entire grid.

Errors do happen every year, with Verstappen having made several at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix alone; however, it’s down to the team to ensure that the driver can bounce back from their personal mistakes, not add to them.

This has been Ferrari’s problem in 2022, too many times have they cost Leclerc a huge haul of points, none bigger than at Hungary, where Leclerc was leading whilst Verstappen was fighting through the top 10.

“If I look back at Hungary, to be honest, our first impulse [on strategy] was okay,” Leclerc recalled.

“Then from that moment onwards, our race was much more difficult. But again, that’s part of the races that we need to learn from and get better in the future.”

Whilst Red Bull have had the edge on Sundays, Saturdays have very much been the Maranello-based team’s strength.

Leclerc has claimed nine poles this season but has only won three times, with the 24-year-old admitting that the car hasn’t been in the “sweet spot” at times, but they now know why.

He did point out, though, that Red Bull have simply made “bigger steps” across the season, which is why they boast an unprecedented lead in both championships.

“Now that we have had a few other races after the race in Spa, we understand a few things better,” added Leclerc.

“The car was not in the sweet spot there and we have now made some steps in that.

“We had a hard time with two things in Belgium. I don’t want to go into too much detail about that, but we probably didn’t handle those problems well at the time.

“However, Red Bull has taken bigger steps than us this year and that’s why they are stronger now, but the big difference in Belgium was mainly because we didn’t have the pace at all.

“I don’t think the difference in performance between Ferrari and Red Bull is very big. If you look at the season as a whole, we’ve been very competitive.”

There is no doubt that Ferrari have been weaker during races, but they’ve still been battling for podiums against Mercedes and Sergio Pérez.

The team’s mistakes, though, have simply cost too many points for Leclerc to battle Verstappen, with the Monegasque aware that the team must get “better”.

“The problem, however, is that we didn’t perform well every race weekend, so we lost a lot of points,” he said.

“Whatever the reason, it often didn’t fall our way on Sunday. We have to work on that as a team, to be better and get better results.

“We had already taken a [positive] step in Monza. The circuit was similar to Spa, but it went much better. That was good to see. We were still a bit slower than Red Bull on Sunday, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as in Spa the week before.”

Despite what has ended up being a season full of missed opportunities, there is no doubt that Ferrari are truly back as a frontrunning side, something they haven’t been for the last few seasons.

Leclerc highlights this fact as the “positive point” of 2022, with the number 16 aiming to “really fight” for the title next season.

READ: Max Verstappen’s concerned reaction to George Russell’ call

“If I take a few steps back and look at the overall picture, I don’t think many people would have believed beforehand how good we would be this year,” continued the Ferrari driver.

“That’s really the positive point of this season.

“Everyone is used to it now, because we are almost at the end of the season. But if you look back at 2020 and 2021, those have been two years where we had a very difficult time in terms of performance. That said, we have to take an extra step to really fight for the world title.”

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Brawn is someone who knows exactly what they are talking about when it comes to exceptional drivers, having played an instrumental role in Michael Schumacher’s career at both Benetton and Ferrari.

The 67-year-old, who is set to retire at the end of the year, was dubbed as the “mastermind”, by the seven-time World Champion and is one of the most respected individuals in the paddock.

Brawn famously bought out the Honda F1 team at the end of 2008, which became known as Brawn GP in 2009.

READ: Pictures: McLaren unveil striking livery for Singapore and Japanese GPs

After winning both titles in their debut season, Brawn GP was bought out by Mercedes, who, of course, are one of the leading sides on the grid today.

Brawn was Ferrari’s technical director during his time working alongside Schumacher; he also held the same role at Benetton.

Verstappen’s recent victory from P14 to first at the Belgian Grand Prix, reminded Brawn of Mick Schumacher’s father “at his best”, with the Briton explaining that you can “feel this certain magic” when watching a driver on “another planet”.

“His dominance at Spa reminded me of Michael Schumacher at his best,” said Brawn.

“When you have a perfect car and drivers like Michael or Max in the cockpit, they drive like they are on another planet. Then, as a spectator, you feel this certain magic.

“You have to remember that there is always another driver with the same car who cannot make that difference. Of course we want hard battles for the lead with many drivers. But at the same time, don’t we want to see the magicians who stand out from the rest?”

The Dutchman can incredibly claim his second consecutive World Championship at this weekend’s returning Singapore Grand Prix, despite there still being six races remaining (including Singapore).

This is largely thanks to having won 11 of the 16 completed races this season, meaning he is just two race wins behind Schumacher’s joint record with Sebastian Vettel of 13 wins in a single season.

Verstappen could match this milestone at the Japanese Grand Prix, before eclipsing it at the United States Grand Prix.

READ: Colton Herta could still race in Formula 1

Brawn is certain that the Red Bull driver is the “benchmark” but needs to prove that he can win when the car is “not so good”, something which was one of Schumacher’s “many strengths”.

“Max is without doubt the benchmark. Just like Michael,” added Brawn.

“The future will show whether he can make the most of a race day when the car is not so good. That was one of Michael’s many strengths. But Max is still young and seems to have taken a step in the right direction in this too.”

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Reigning World Champion Verstappen’s “worst nightmare” came true at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend, after he dropped a tear-off on the opening lap of the Belgian GP which remarkably got caught in Leclerc’s front-right brake duct.

The duo started P14 and P15 at Spa, having both taken grid penalties for an engine change.

The pair made an excellent start and were already knocking on the door of the top 10 by the time they were three-quarters of the way round the first lap.

READ: Valtteri Bottas reveals if he wants Alfa Romeo to retain Zhou Guanyu

However, the race would quickly take an unexpected turn for Leclerc, who was unfortunate enough to be forced into an early pit-stop for his rival’s tear-off to be taken off the brake duct.

The Monegasque driver ended up finishing the race in sixth, whilst Verstappen won by an impressive margin.

It would’ve been fifth for Leclerc had it not been for a five-second time penalty, which he was awarded after the race for speeding in the pit-lane.

It was another Ferrari strategic error, after the team pitted Leclerc from fifth with the aim of going for the fastest lap.

Not only did Leclerc speed in the pit-lane by 1 kph, he also failed to claim the fastest lap of the race.

Before it had been declared that it was Verstappen’s tear-off which affected Leclerc, the Dutchman revealed that he is “always scared” of it happening.

“You’re always scared that it happens, especially when you’re in the pack because at a track like Spa, you are taking them off very quickly,” the Dutchman said.

“It is your worst nightmare that these things happen but yeah, unfortunately they do happen.”

Leclerc was asked at Zandvoort if he was angry with the championship leader.

The Ferrari driver said he doesn’t blame Verstappen, with the type of incident “not the fault of the drivers”.

Leclerc wants to see a better solution for tear-offs rather than just throwing them on the track, with the 24-year-old suggesting that there should be somewhere in the car to store them.

READ: Haas boss reveals if Mick Schumacher is ‘out of the game’ amid Daniel Ricciardo links

“Of course it is not the fault of the drivers,” he said.

“But we could come up with something to store the strips in the car. I think someone was losing oil so no one could see through their visors and I could see them flying everywhere, but as a driver you can’t do anything about it.”

Verstappen and Leclerc both finished on the podium at the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix, with the Red Bull driver winning the race, while the Ferrari racer finished in P3.

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Alonso labelled his 2007 McLaren F1 team-mate as an “idiot” who “only knows how to start from first” over his team radio, after the seven-time World Champion was at fault for the pair’s incident at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.

Alonso and Hamilton made excellent starts to the race last weekend and were running second and third along the Kemmel straight.

As they approached Les Combes, Hamilton moved to the outside of the Spaniard and attempted to overtake the Alpine driver around the outside.

READ: Daniel Ricciardo wants to evaluate his options by Monza after Pierre Gasly blocks Alpine move

Hamilton made a complete mess of the move, after cutting across the 41-year-old at the apex of the corner resulting in a big collision.

The incident saw the rear of Hamilton’s W13 lift off the circuit and go almost vertical, with his car performing somewhat of a nosedive.

His impact back with the circuit was recorded at an astonishing 45G, making his immediate retirement from the race unsurprising.

Hamilton was asked about Alonso’s radio comments post-race, after he heard what the Spanish driver said about him.

Whilst Hamilton failed to comment at the time, he made his opinion on the comments known via social media.

It began by the Mercedes F1 driver posting an old F1 video on Instagram, where all the drivers, including Alonso, asked for respect.

This was followed by Hamilton sharing a picture of a signed cap of his, with the words “To Fernando” written on the front of it.

Some have called Hamilton’s social media antics ‘petty’; however, Hamilton admitted it was just a “little fun thing”.

Alonso did apologise to Hamilton regarding what he said over the radio, with the British driver revealing that the supposed ‘feud’ between them isn’t “a thing”.

“It’s not a thing for me,” said the 103-time GP winner.

“It doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t really affect me in the slightest.

“With the cap, it was just a little fun thing. It’s good to have fun sometimes with these things and I know there are a lot of young kids following me and it’s important the steps I try to take in my behaviour.”

READ: Lando Norris pondered ‘good massage’ in Amsterdam

Hamilton was just a tenth behind polesitter Max Verstappen at the end of the second sector during qualifying at Zandvoort but was forced into aborting his lap, after Sergio Pérez span ahead of him at the final corner.

In the race, the Briton was in with a shout of victory, but a strategic mistake ultimately left him vulnerable towards the end and he finished down in P4, while George Russell crossed the finish line in second.

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Leclerc had gone into the weekend at Spa knowing that he would take a grid penalty after qualifying due to adding too many engine parts to his pool.

The Monegasque was joined by Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher in starting from the back and, after Verstappen qualified first with Leclerc fourth, they lined up 14^th and 15^threspectively.

During qualifying though, Leclerc was sent out on fresh Softs to give team-mate Carlos Sainz a slipstream, when the team were supposed to be saving that set for the race – their first blunder of the weekend.

READ: Ferrari hammered after joining Twitter trend

The Red Bull’s pace was imperious throughout the weekend – the reigning champion had qualified over half a second clear of Carlos Sainz on the Saturday – and Verstappen was in the lead within the first half of the grand prix.

Meanwhile, Leclerc was forced to pit early when a rogue visor tear-off – thought to be from Verstappen’s car – got caught in his brake duct, so he had to pit.

Throughout the remainder of the afternoon, it appeared that, following weeks of criticism and ridicule, no one at the Scuderia wanted to take control of the strategy and risk making a mistake.

They therefore asked Leclerc what tyres he wanted to be on and when he wanted to pit, despite the 24-year-old’s limited knowledge of what was going on elsewhere.

What he did know for sure was that he did not want to risk pitting late on to try and get the fastest lap while running in fifth and, after hearing that, Ferrari called him in anyway.

Sadly or Leclerc, one of his sensors had been damaged by the tear-off, so his pit limiter was faulty, and the Number 16 F1-75 sped into the pit lane.

Further, the five-time race winner was passed by Fernando Alonso when he re-joined, and the time taken to regain the position denied him the chance to set the fastest lap.

The subsequent penalty for speeding put him down to sixth, culminating a tough weekend for the Maranello-based side as Sainz ended third behind Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Red Bull’s fourth one-two of the season gave them a commanding lead in the championship heading into the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend, made even bigger by Ferrari’s error at the end.

Nonetheless, Rueda affirmed that he had no regrets as to the decision to pit his driver.

“If we don’t take these opportunities, we’re no longer racers,” he said, quoted by Motorlat.

This, naturally, led to some ridicule on social media.

“Giving some serious ‘my risk was calculated but man am I bad at math’ vibes,” said one user.

“If you no longer go for a blunder that exists, you’re no longer part of Ferrari Strategia team,” joked another.

Some had some sympathy though, suggesting that the mistake in Stavelot was not as detrimental as errors that had snatched wins from Leclerc’s grasp in Monaco and Silverstone.

READ: Max Verstappen has good news for Formula 1 fans

“This one was harmless imho. Hilarious and clownery but still not as bad as Monaco, Silverstone or Hungary,” stated a fan.

“They clearly lost the championships so they are free to roll the dice as much as possible.”

Leclerc narrowly lost out on pole to Verstappen in the Netherlands this weekend, and the Dutchman went on to win the race, while the Ferrari driver crossed the finish line in P2.

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The Spaniard started the race third ahead of Sir Lewis Hamilton after Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon were all given penalties, so there was a chance, perhaps, for them to compete for a podium finish.

Hamilton crept ahead of the 41-year-old heading down the Kemmel Straight, and Alonso defended the inside line as he fought to keep the position.

Unsighted as to the presence of the double world champion, and thinking that he was already ahead, the 37-year-old turned into the apex, and the pair made contact.

READ: ‘I don’t know what he was thinking’: Fernando Alonso lashes out at Sergio Perez

The seven-time champion was launched up into the air by the Alpine’s front wing, and his car violently came down, damaging the back and underside of the W13.

It led to a retirement for the 103-time race winner, who trudged back to the pits and accepted in the media pen that he was to blame for the incident.

The stewards saw no wrongdoing from either side though, ruling it as a racing incident, and Alonso eventually finished fifth ahead of Leclerc.

Following the incident though, the 32-time race winner delivered a radio message to his team, calling his former team-mate an “idiot,” and suggesting that Hamilton only knows how to “start first” and win races.

In the heat of the moment, the Spaniard made a comment, and since emotions are so high, some great content can be extracted from some of the radio messages.

Alonso, however, does not feel that radio messages should be broadcast to the public.

“I don’t think so, as I said, that is the only sport, in football, in tennis, in whatever, you can have your moments of privacy with your team,” he told Motorsport.com.

“But I know that this is part of the show, and as I said, all the things that are broadcast in the radio normally are a little bit spicy, because the sport wants that spice into the race.”

The Oviedo-born racer added that he has “huge respect” for Hamilton, and he apologised for the comments he made.

“First of all, Lewis is a champion, he’s a legend of our time, and then when you say something – and I’m sorry to repeat this – against a British driver, there is huge media involvement after that,” added Alonso.

“If you say something to a Latin driver, everything’s a little bit more fun, when you say something to others, it’s a little bit more serious.

“But anyway yes, I apologise, I was not thinking what I said. 

“I don’t think that there was much to blame in that moment, to be honest, looking at the replays and everything, because it’s a first-lap incident, we are all very close together.”

Alonso offered a comparison to football, where lots of fruity language is thrown around by players at the height of their emotions.

READ: Sebastian Vettel linked to 2023 Alpine seat after photograph emerges

“Obviously, you should be aware that is broadcast, but it’s like if someone makes a hard tackle or something in football, in that moment you say something to your teammate, or your defender or wherever, that is not broadcast,” he explained.

Hamilton qualified fourth at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, with Alonso down in 13^th after he felt his final run in Q2 was disrupted by Sergio Perez, who will start fifth for Red Bull following his spin in the final session.

Max Verstappen will start on pole after narrowly pipping Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

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During Friday practice, the spectators got their first glimpse of the exquisite pace of the Formula 1 cars as they left the pits and headed through some of the most famous corners in the history of the sport.

Though slightly changed, Eau Rouge and Raidillon remain some of the most remarkable turns on the calendar, with high-speed thrill rides, Pouillon and Blanchimont, always giving the drivers and fans alike a fun experience.

Between La Source and Les Combes at the end of the Kemmel Straight, the drivers traverse one of the longest flat-out sections of the season.

READ: Christian Horner suggests Lewis Hamilton or George Russell could take pole at Dutch GP

Along the DRS run in practice, a flyboarder zoomed past the fans on the banks to the side of the racetrack, giving off Green Goblin vibes – you could almost hear Willem Dafoe’s laugh as they made their way through.

Max Verstappen went on to win the race in Stavelot by nearly 18 seconds from team-mate Sergio Perez after starting down in 14^th on the grid.

Within the first half of the race, the Dutchman was leading the race, and Perez ensured the fourth one-two of the season for Red Bull.

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READ: 2022 Dutch Grand Prix: Max Verstappen expecting strong Ferrari response

Carlos Sainz finished third on Sunday after starting P1, which he inherited from Verstappen, after the 24-year-old was given his penalty having gone six tenths of a second faster than the Spaniard in qualifying.

Charles Leclerc was also forced to start outside the top 10 due to engine penalties of his own, but a rogue visor tear-off from Verstappen’s car on the first lap ruined his race.

The 24-year-old then picked up a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, putting him down to sixth behind Fernando Alonso. 

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Alonso and Hamilton stared the race at Spa third and fourth, respectively, after Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon had all collected engine penalties.

The seven-time champion was jostling with Alonso heading into Turn One, and he got into the double world champion’s slipstream as they headed down the Kemmel Straight.

Alonso defended his position on the inside at Les Combes, but the 37-year-old was unsighted as he turned into the apex.

READ: ‘That was embarrassing’: Dutch GP director makes promise about ‘Orange Army’

When he met the corner, he found that the Alpine was already there, and the subsequent contact sent Hamilton up into the air, before the car came down violently.

The damage caused to the underside and the back of the car as a result forced the 103-time race winner to retire, while Alonso picked up minor damage.

The Spaniard took to the radio to call his former team-mate an “idiot,” and suggested that he only knows how to “start from first” and win races.

Alonso also wagged his finger at the Briton when he passed the stricken Mercedes on the second lap while the drivers were under Safety Car conditions and, when Hamilton returned to the media pen, he accepted that the collision was his fault.

The 41-year-old had calmed down after his impressive fifth-placed finish, and he acknowledged that it was a racing incident – the stewards agreed.

Having just slipstreamed his rival on the Kemmel Straight, Danner was amazed that, while side-by-side with Alonso, Hamilton did not know Alonso was there.

“Of course he was solely to blame, he made the move and then said it’s not his fault because he was in the blind spot. Is he crazy?” said the German, in spite of the fact that Hamilton did indeed take the blame. 

READ: Fernando Alonso slams ‘huge media involvement’ after insulting Lewis Hamilton

“He saw him, overtook him and drove into his car and then says he didn’t see him, so either his short-term memory has suffered or he can’t bring himself to admit that it was just stupid.”

The two drivers shook hands and made up ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, with Hamilton apologising for the crash by way of gifting Alonso a signed Mercedes cap.

The 32-time race winner also apologised for his comment over the radio.

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Both Hamilton and Alonso made excellent starts at Spa-Francorchamps, with the former team-mates running second and third along the Kemmel straight.

As they neared Les Combes, Hamilton who was in third at the time, swooped to the outside of the Alpine F1 Team driver to attempt an overtake.

The seven-time World Champion judged the move completely wrong and cut across the front of the Spaniard at the apex of the corner.

READ: Pierre Gasly told Alpine is ‘the right team for him’

The resulting impact saw the rear of Hamilton’s W13 go skywards, with Hamilton’s car performing somewhat of a nosedive after going almost completely vertical.

Hamilton’s impact back with the circuit was measured at 45G, something which resulted in damage to the car, leading to his first DNF of the season.

Mercedes F1 Team’s strategy director James Vowles revealed the incredible figure during a team debrief Q&A, as well as that the 37-year-old is okay after the incident.

“It was a large, large impact,” Vowles revealed.

“It was measured at 45G on the SDR (safety data recorder) in the car, which is very big on a vertical load.

“He will be OK. He will be back in Zandvoort fighting. It will now take a few days to review all the components. Clearly, there are going to be overloads to the suspension components and gearboxes, and we need to make sure to understand the full extent of what’s required before Zandvoort.”

The power unit from Spa has been sent back to the team’s Brixworth factory for investigation, after concerns were raised over the health of it.

Annoyingly, the power unit was only just fitted prior to last weekend, with it being his last legal engine of the season.

If the team opts to fit Hamilton with another new power unit, then it would involve a grid penalty.

Vowles added that the team “noticed almost immediately” that coolant was flying out of Hamilton’s car, resulting in rapidly increasing temperatures for the power unit components.

This was actually the reason why the Mercedes driver was stopped by the team, to prevent any further damage.

READ: Daniel Ricciardo likely to be forced to retire following Alpine development

“There are enough photos floating around the internet to show just how high the car was and how it landed, and the impact was large,” Vowles added.

“What we noticed almost immediately after the impact on the ground was a loss of coolant.

“You can actually see on the onboard of Alonso that coolant really just flying out towards him, and then you started to see temperatures rise fairly quickly, and that was the primary reason for stopping him on track.”

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Both drivers made an excellent start at Spa-Francorchamps and were second and third down the Kemmel straight.

As they approached Les Combes, Hamilton was right behind his former team-mate, and opted to move to the outside of the Alpine F1 Team driver.

The seven-time World Champion tried to swoop around the outside of the Spaniard; however, Hamilton cut across the double World Champion at the apex of the corner, causing a collision.

READ: Mick Schumacher set to lose Haas seat next year

The collision saw the rear of Hamilton’s W13 go skywards, with his car performing somewhat of a nosedive.

It came crashing down back onto the circuit, with the impact having been recorded at a staggering 45G, making it understandable why Hamilton was afraid of breaking his back!

The Brit was forced to retire from the race, unsurprisingly, whereas Alonso somehow avoided any damage and finished fifth.

However, he did have some strong words for the Brit after the incident, when he labelled Hamilton as an “idiot” over the team’s radio.

“I mean, we had a mega-start but this guy only knows how to drive starting first,” Alonso was heard saying to his team.

The collision was determined to be a racing incident, with Hamilton claiming full responsibility for it.

The 37-year-old refused to comment on what Alonso said over his radio, something which Hamilton was told about post-race.

The Mercedes driver insisted that if it wasn’t for the comments then he would’ve gone to apologise to the Alpine driver, with that now highly unlikely.

“It’s good to know how he feels towards me,” said the British driver.

“I would have spoken with him until I heard what he said.”

Hamilton has used social media to almost get back at Alonso, by sharing an old F1 video which includes the Spaniard asking for respect.

As well as this, Hamilton shared an image of a signed cap, with the writing “To Fernando” written across the front of it.

The whole situation has become somewhat petty, with Alonso having explained post-race that his wording was simply due to being “frustrated at that moment”.

“I was angry,” he admitted, “but it’s a shame that when I say something and it is broadcast, what you said becomes what you have to deal with in the media.

“Normally when you speak on the radio it’s only for your team, but I was frustrated at that point, for sure.”

Following on from Hamilton’s “excessive” social media posts aimed at the 41-year-old, several members of the paddock have jumped to Alonso’s defence.

Antonio Lobato, a veteran Spanish F1 commentator, believes Alonso’s words have been taken completely out of context.

Lobato put Alonso’s choice of words down to the heat of the moment, with the Spaniard not being the type of person to call Hamilton an “idiot”.

“You can’t take ‘What an idiot!’ from Alonso to Hamilton at face value,” Lobato said.

“Because in normal circumstances, Fernando would never say that about Hamilton or any other driver.

“What has happened since then is excessive.”

Well-known Russian F1 commentator Alexey Popov actually thinks what Alonso said was correct; not the “idiot” part, but the fact that Hamilton doesn’t know how to race in the midfield.

Popov raised the argument that the Brit has been so used to winning from the front over recent years, whilst Alonso has been battling in the “pack all the time” and knows how to deal with someone in his ‘blind-spot’.

“If you remove the ugly term ‘idiot’, he means Lewis is not used to fighting in the field,” argued Popov.

“He’s used to starting first and therefore doesn’t feel who is in the so-called ‘blind spot’.

“But if you’re in the pack all the time, you get used to it. So from that point of view, Fernando is right.”

Former F1 driver Christian Danner wasn’t afraid of letting his feelings loose regarding the collision, after questioning if Hamilton is “crazy”

READ: Daniel Ricciardo likely to be forced to retire following Alpine development

Danner went on to call the Brit “stupid”, with his excuse of not seeing Alonso due to “short-term memory” loss, according to the German.

“Of course he was solely to blame – he made the move and then said it’s not his fault because he was in the blind spot. Is he crazy?” he said.

“He saw him, overtook him and drove into his car and then says he didn’t see him. So either his short-term memory has suffered or he can’t bring himself to admit that it was just stupid.”

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