Fernando Alonso joked that he would beat Max Verstappen in a DTM car after the Dutchman’s victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Verstappen cruised to his fifth straight victory at the Yas Marina Circuit to end his season on a high, while Alonso came home in seventh place to pick up a welcome haul of points.
The next task for Alonso will be on Tuesday when he takes part in the Abu Dhabi post-season test, although Verstappen will not be joining his rival for the session. The pair were discussing their plans for the coming weeks in an interview with Viaplay when Verstappen revealed that he would be skipping the test, with Alonso suggesting that he could join him in testing GT3 cars.
“No, no, no,” said Verstappen when asked by Alonso if he would be taking part in the Abu Dhabi test on Tuesday, before adding: “I hope you have a great time in testing. I am testing in GT3 if you want, in Portimao.” Alonso then confirmed that he is also planning to test GT3 cars in Aragon before Verstappen suggested meeting somewhere in between the two circuits.
“Maybe we can do something in the middle,” he said, before Alonso clapped back: “With the DTM car? Yes, then I can beat you there.”
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The jovial exchange came after Alonso was accused of brake testing Lewis Hamilton as they battled for position during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Spaniard was noted by the stewards after lifting off the throttle as Hamilton came up behind him on the approach to Turn Five, which caught the Mercedes driver off guard.
Hamilton quickly claimed over the radio that Alonso had brake tested him, but the stewards ultimately decided against taking action after considering a charge of driving erratically. The latter went on to explain that he slowed down with the intention of letting Hamilton through so he would have DRS on the following straight.
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“Lewis is obviously very clever and understands the sport really good and has a lot of experience, but I have more,” said Alonso. “We did the same in Canada in 2012, so 11 years after that episode, we tried to give the DRS to the other guy braking for Turn Five, but in both cases I won so it is okay.”
Hamilton, meanwhile, made it clear that he was unimpressed with Alonso’s driving as he said: “We were flat out, 400 metres, 300 metres before the corner. I was doing 180 miles an hour and the guy all of a sudden slowed down massively.”
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