19 May 2023 , 15:29
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Fernando Alonso has burned a lot of bridges in Formula 1 with his actions over the years, according to Damon Hill.
The Spaniard enjoyed success fairly early on in his career, winning the 2005 and 2006 drivers' titles with Renault. But he has not summited the F1 world again since and has developed a reputation for being a difficult person to work with as well as an excellent racer.
This was most notable during two separate spells at McLaren. During the first he fell out with the team over his title fight with Lewis Hamilton and left after just a year. And in his second, Alonso complained unrelentingly about his team's Honda engines to the press.
Alonso also rarely shied away from speaking his mind while representing Ferrari and Alpine. But early in his new chapter with Aston Martin he appears to be much more of a team player – as noticed by Hill.
The 1996 world champion said: "He overplayed his hand at McLaren, and then he did something similar at Ferrari. He insulted Honda because he called it a GP2 engine, he lost a lot of friends. I think he's had an epiphany! A bit of a turnaround.
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"He's come back and gone, 'Listen, okay, I get it now I've upset people. It's hurt my career, I've only got two world championships when I should have four or five'. He's on his best behaviour, or maybe he's a changed man. I like to think it's the latter, I think he has changed, matured and became a massive asset to the sport."
Damon Hill thinks Alonso has burned plenty of bridges in the F1 paddock (Getty Images)Alonso recently admitted he has grown a lot over the years. He recently looked back and said: "Definitely everybody changed from that year. I can only speak for myself, but for sure you are different when you're 13 years older than back then. And more mature and you see things maybe definitely."
Most importantly, though, he is puzzled by the notion that age should lead to a decline in his skills. Alonso said last year: "What I feel maybe sounds the opposite to the people outside. It seems that the sport and how social media is now, we seem to get confused about the age or the performance that a sportsman can do.
"This is not the Tour De France, this is not the Olympic Games, this is not football where at 23 you are at the peak of your performance. If I race myself now against myself of 23, I will beat him with one hand. It's not the same for myself only, I guess everyone will give you the same answer."