Will Hamilton and Alonso’s epic rivalry reignite in F1 2023?

Hamilton and Alonso were teammates at McLaren in 2007 but their relationship unravelled amid a blockbuster intra-team battle for a world title they ultimately both missed out on. 

Two-time world champion Alonso left McLaren the following season and on-track battles between the pair have been few and far between since, with Hamilton enjoying a prolonged spell of dominance at Mercedes on his way to racking up seven championships. 

Hamilton labelled Alonso “dangerous” during a fierce battle at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, before the former teammates came to blows on the first-lap of last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, leading to a brief fallout. 

Alonso’s new team Aston Martin have been the surprise package of pre-season testing, with Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz putting the Silverstone-based outfit ahead of Mercedes in the 2023 pecking order.

And Kravitz is hoping to see more fireworks between the multiple world champions this season. 

"Fernando’s race run was much better than Leclerc or Sainz’s, showed none of the tyre degradation that Ferrari had and net would have been ahead of the Ferraris,” Kravitz told the Sky F1 Podcast. 

“He might be battling Leclerc and Sainz, and Lewis and George. I want to see more of Lewis and Alonso [battling].”

In response, Sky colleague and ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok quipped: “The surprise of the season could be that Fernando Alonso has made a good career choice for a change.” 

Assessing the claim about Alonso’s questionable career choices, Kravitz said: “He’ll regret some of his moves, of course he will. But he will argue there were valid points behind all of them.

“He left Ferrari because he thought ‘OK I can win races and challenge for championships but we’re always going to be second’, and was borne out to be correct on that. 

“Ferrari have always been second or worse since Fernando left.” 

To which, Chandhok replied: “Fernando would have won the 2018 championship in a Ferrari had he stayed. 

“If it was Fernando Alonso in that Ferrari, as good as it was, against Lewis Hamilton, he would have won that championship.”

Kravitz concluded: “Now are going to find out whether Fernando has got some more race wins and by extension, a third world championship, in him.”