Niki Lauda once criticised Fernando Alonso for showing his fist to Formula 1 rival, ‘too much’

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It has been 20 years since Fernando Alonso won the first of his two Formula 1 titles during the 2005 season with Renault.

Since then, Alonso has struggled to replicate his former success and has been left to rue some poor decision-making.

He left Renault at the right time after the 2006 season when he won a second drivers’ championship. A few years later he had the option to make a move to Red Bull, which would have changed his career. He rejected it.

With a bit more luck at Ferrari or some better timing with his moves, he could have achieved as many titles as Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton.

Alonso surprised his Renault engineers in 2008 after returning to the team following a turbulent one-year spell with McLaren.

He enjoyed a good relationship with the French team. Even though Renault withdrew Alonso from Formula 1 in 2002, they went on to enjoy plenty of success together.

READ MORE: Fernando Alonso’s recent comments suggest F1 could end up making one rule change that ends his career

Niki Lauda said Fernando Alonso did ‘too much’ in Hungarian Grand Prix spat with Red Bull F1 star

The 2006 Formula 1 season was a hotly contested championship, with the legendary Schumacher almost taking the title right down to the wire.

Alonso’s hopes were dealt a blow at the Hungarian Grand Prix that year after he was handed a two-second qualifying penalty for brake-checking a rival.

After feeling impeded by Red Bull’s Robert Doornbos, he took his anger out by raising a fist in fury and was subsequently punished by having two seconds added to his fastest qualifying lap.

Niki Lauda was not impressed by his actions and criticised the Spaniard for letting his anger get the better of him.

“To be annoyed in a car because some other guy is in your way is normal. This is part of the profession they are working in,” he told Autosport.

“But to push him on the straight to the right, to show his fist and then stop at the next corner is too much.

“If he goes by like we all do and shows his fist by not being happy, it is an absolutely normal thing in F1. But what he did, I do not understand. This is the start of the whole problem.”

READ MORE: Fernando Alonso spotted Lando Norris’ true potential during one ‘very impressive’ race before his Formula 1 debut

Natalie Pinkham noticed ‘incredible’ change in Fernando Alonso in 2021

After retiring from Formula 1 for the first time at the end of the 2018 season, Alonso decided to return to Renault’s old French base with Alpine in 2021.

He didn’t quite enjoy the levels of success that he would’ve hoped and he lasted two years before switching to Aston Martin.

Sky Sports’ Natalie Pinkham noticed an ‘incredible’ change in Alonso when he returned to the sport after two years away in endurance racing.

Now beyond the age of 40, he had discovered a calmness and better perspective on the sport. With the 2026 F1 regulations around the corner, his new approach could yet pay dividends.