Fernando Alonso has taken the opportunity to praise Lewis Hamilton for his performance at the Australian Grand Prix.
The two old rivals shared the Australian GP podium with Max Verstappen on Sunday, with the Dutchman coming home ahead of Hamilton and then Alonso.
It could have perhaps been different in particular for Fernando, with him tagged and punted out of contention by Carlos Sainz in a late restart, but a swift red flag due to a separate incident involving the two Alpine cars saved the day for the Aston Martin man.
Indeed, he’s now made it three podiums from three races and he was joined by his fellow world champions that are still racing in F1, with seven-time champ Hamilton and defending double winner Verstappen alongside him on the podium.
It’s great seeing all three drivers really delivering and hopefully there’ll be more battles to come between the trio, as we move further into the season.
Taking to social media after the race, Fernando praised Lewis for his performance as the Merc man took P2, in what was a nice gesture from the 2005 and 2006 world champion:
Of course, the pair haven’t always seen eye-to-eye in the heat of battle but there is clearly respect between them for the talents they have behind the wheel and for what they have achieved in the sport.
They are the elder statesmen on the grid these days but are clearly still two of the benchmarks in the sport and both are showing age is merely a number at the top level of motorsport if you apply yourself and still have the hunger and drive to compete and succeed.
Of course, both would love to be winning races right now and challenging for victory but the Red Bull car is still a little out of reach in normal circumstances and that was reflected today as Verstappen, when the race was settled, had way too much pace for anyone to get close.
Both Mercedes and Aston Martin look well-placed to try and close the gap, though, and that is what they will be aiming to do with another 20 races to go this season.
And if that means we get more battles between Hamilton and Alonso along the way, you won’t find any F1 fan worth their salt complaining about that prospect.
