Alonso Lays into Hamilton for Data-Sharing Statement

McLaren’s lead man has offered a retaliatory salvo at the Mercedes’ drivers most recent statements regarding data sharing in F1.

Alonso’s got some good comedic chops on him. The McLaren driver commented on Lewis Hamilton’s recent statement regarding the sharing of data between drivers. Hamilton expressed a certain amount of distaste for the concept, believing that if a driver has practiced well enough, his success in finding the best lines out on the track should be his alone.

Alonso has taken the opportunity to make a bit of friendly jab in Hamilton’s direction, stating that not only was Lewis guilty of the very thing that he was speaking out against, but that perhaps it would not have been such a bad strategy for him to employ during his last season loss to Nico Rosberg.

“He’s said many times that he was learning from the data. Mercedes also is one of the teams using more of the data, more with the engineers, to help the drivers.

So for this I think it is a little bit strange to hear from him. If he was watching more data from Rosberg last year, maybe he would have won the championship…” – Fernando Alonso

Alonso has a point. It’s hard to say whether or not Hamilton is exhibiting a classic case of hubris, but his comments do fly in the face of what he practices.

Putting Hamilton’s preference for driver data aside, Alonso took a moment to voice his views regarding the recent 2017 contender unveilings. Citing that, once again, Mercedes is the team to beat heading into the forthcoming season:

“Though that the regulation is 50 percent of the car because the engines stay the same so Mercedes unfortunately still have a very big advantage over anyone else. That carry over is a handicap for the rest of the teams, so we need to be much, much better job than them on the chassis side if we want to compensate that advantage that they deserve also because they did a fantastic job.” – Fernando Alonso

McLaren have unveiled a bright-looking challenger themselves, although getting up there with Mercedes might be a bit of an ask. Their target this season is to break into the top three.