McLaren star driver Fernando Alonso has been compared to Brazilian soccer star Neymar because of his habit of exaggerating his complaints about rivals over the McLaren team radio during the heat of battle.
The Haas team’s Danish driver Kevin Magnussen told reporters at Hockenheim that the two-time Formula 1 world champion had a tendency to exaggerate and claimed the Spaniard made a particular effort to undermine him during the British Grand Prix earlier this month.
Magnussen pointed out, “He does complain a lot on the radio but, I mean, we see it in other sports as well. Even great athletes like Neymar and stuff, they exaggerate a bit.”
During the British Grand Prix, Alonso called for the stewards to penalise Magnussen. He accused him of “very dangerous driving” during opening practice and also charged him with trying to force him off the track during the race.
Alonso – in a clear message aimed at the FIA race stewards – raged into his team by radio: “What I see from Magnussen, I never saw in my life.”
But his complaints fell on deaf ears, as Haas team chief Gunther Steiner recalled, “The stewards didn’t react, the race director didn’t react at all. So, I don’t need to comment on that one.”
Ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Magnussen added, “For sure, Fernando is doing his job, he is one of the best drivers and he is very good in all aspects. He has been doing it a long time — he knows which button to push, so he tried. He is trying to get the most for himself and it didn’t work two weekends ago.”
Alonso did not rise to the bait, “Nothing really to say, the past is the past. I got the eighth place in the last laps so I was happy with that, the result didn’t change and the FIA thought differently that weekend.
“We move on. Everyone will race differently in their careers and I am very happy with my career and my results. I am two-times world champion and he’s trying to get some points so I can’t answer everyone’s comments,” added the Spaniard.