August 28, (THEWILL) – The Belgian Grand Prix’s saw Brit race driver, Sir Lewis Hamilton, retire from the race due to a collision with Fernando Alonso in the opening lap.
Alonso and Hamilton, who were teammates at McLaren, overtook Sergio Perez of Red Bull at the start to take up second and third respectively. The Mercedes British driver appeared to have the position under control after cutting the Spaniard in from the outside, only for the latter to lunge over the Alpine and run over his left front tyre.
The collision sent Hamilton’s car flying into the air and he landed heavily off the track. After initially maintaining Mercedes challenge in the race, he quickly began to regress. He finally had to withdraw from the race after his crew asked him to enter the pits.
Meanwhile, over the radio, Alonso was heard expressing his displeasure to his team about the incident saying: “this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.”
Although both drivers avoided punishment, the stewards indicated they would look into the crash. The Alfa Romeo rider Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s teammate from the previous season, also had to retire later in the opening race.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
