Lewis Hamilton mocked Fernando Alonso’s radio outburst at the Singapore Grand Prix on Instagram, posting a montage of Victor Meldrew from the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave repeating “I don’t believe it”.
Hamilton angered Alonso during the closing laps of the Singapore Grand Prix. The Brit was hounding Kimi Antonelli over fifth place but suffered an extreme brake issue, forcing him to limp home around the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
As he cruised around the track a minute off the pace, Hamilton dropped behind team-mate Charles Leclerc and fell back into the clutches of Alonso, who was in eighth place. The Ferrari driver cut several corners in an attempt to avoid the walls, eventually crossing the line four-tenths of a second ahead of his former McLaren team-mate.
Alonso, who had already voiced his frustrations with Racing Bulls prodigy Isack Hadjar earlier in the weekend, was seething and launched into a sensational radio rant after the chequered flag.
“F***ing hell mate, I cannot believe it,” he raged. “I cannot f***ing believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it. I mean, I cannot f***ing believe it. I cannot f***ing believe it. Is it safe to drive with no brakes? It should be f***ing P7, you cannot drive like you are alone on track. No respect for the red flag yesterday, today, free track for them. Maybe too much.”
When informed that Hamilton would be investigated for track limit violations, Alonso continued: “Five seconds [penalty] minimum, yeah? For me, you cannot drive when the car is unsafe, you know? Sometimes they tried to disqualify me with no mirror, and now you have no brakes, and everything is fine? I doubt it.”
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Alonso ultimately got his way. Hamilton was called to the stewards to discuss the track limit violations and, while the legendary Brit had no other choice but to cut the track given his brake situation, he still received a five-second time penalty, as per the regulations.
Hamilton made sure to poke fun at his long-time rival for the outburst, though. After the race, he posted a montage of Victor Meldrew, the fictional character played by Richard Wilson in One Foot in the Grave, in which he repeats his catchphrase “I don’t believe it!”
The Ferrari driver overlaid some text, which read: “18 years of”. Hamilton and Alonso have experienced their fair share of jabs in the media since going their separate ways at the end of the 2008 season, with the Brit the latest to stoke the fire.
