Within the wake of an extremely tight title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen, feelings from followers on each side reached fever pitch after their British Grand Prix collision.
And, as concentrate on the Silverstone crash refused to die down in Hungary final weekend, Verstappen eventually lost his temper in the post-qualifying press conference when he objected to ‘ridiculous’ questions concerning the probabilities of one other conflict.
Alonso then prompted some intrigue when he was requested if he had any sympathy over Verstappen’s outburst for being on the receiving finish of repeated probing.
“I did not see the press convention,” he mentioned. “However I really feel most likely what they’re experiencing now. Particularly Max, as a result of he is the youthful man preventing with a legend, with a champion. He is not British, so it will likely be all the time harder for him.”
Having initially not elaborated on his remark, Alonso was later pushed to make clear precisely what he meant by his ‘not British’ comment.
And the Spaniard defined that he felt the UK domination of the sequence – with seven of groups being British-based – had left F1 biased in the direction of dwelling nation drivers.
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A521, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Picture by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
“I’ve the impression all the time that when issues turn into a bit of bit spicy or tense within the title struggle… this sport is a British atmosphere,” he mentioned.
“All of the groups, they’re British. Most of you guys, journalists or the media consideration, and TV crews, each one comes from the UK.
“Understandably, there’s a little little bit of desire of your man in your nation who might be aggressive and retains successful.
“All the time what I felt after I was racing, it appeared like I used to be the dangerous man in Method 1 after I was making an attempt to struggle towards usually British guys.
“After I noticed the Silverstone factor, after I see what Verstappen will get with some questions, I perceive his place for positive.”
Whereas Alonso’s two F1 world championship successes in 2005 and 2006 got here after shut title fights with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, his most intense marketing campaign was in 2007 when he fought for the crown throughout a controversial marketing campaign at McLaren alongside Lewis Hamilton.