Isack Hadjar has pop at “grumpy” Fernando Alonso in Singapore spat

Isack Hadjar has hit back at Fernando Alonso following their heated battle at  the Singapore Grand Prix.

Hadjar and Alonso engaged in a heated tussle for position after a slow pit stop dropped the Aston Martin driver down to 15th, before he produced an impressive fightback to seventh.

But Alonso was left frustrated as he ended up stuck behind Hadjar, who was nursing an engine problem in his Racing Bulls, for several laps.

The two-time world champion sarcastically declared Hadjar as “the hero of the race” over team radio.

But Hadjar, who ultimately finished just outside of the points in 11th, shrugged off Alonso’s complaints and branded the 44-year-old Spaniard as “grumpy”.

“I mean, I didn't push him off the track. I kept it clean,” Hadjar argued. “If he didn't enjoy that fight, then he's really grumpy and there's nothing I can do for him.”

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Alonso was extremely animated over team radio throughout the race, and launched into a foul-mouthed rant about Lewis Hamilton’s driving as he limped home after suffering a brake failure on his Ferrari.

Hamilton pipped Alonso to seventh on the road by just four-tenths but was later hit with a five-second time penalty for multiple track limits infringements that had prompted his old rival’s rage. The penalty promoted Alonso up to seventh and dropped Hamilton to P8.

Alonso had calmed down when he reflected on his battle with Hadjar with media after the race.

“I think he had a little bit of an engine problem, from what I understood, on the straights – he was slow,” he said.

“Sometimes, some battles you need to know when it's better to fight, when it's not, because probably the final result of the race could be worse for both for sure – but for him in particular.

“So yeah, I think some unnecessary risk, but I understand that this is Singapore and you need to fight hard, and he did his best, but we lost time for sure.”

Alonso was also informed about Hadjar’s ‘grumpy’ swipe, to which he responded: “Well, some movements at 300km/h are a little bit borderline in Singapore, but everyone races as they want and there was no contact, nothing like that, so everything is fine.

“They have a very fast car, they don't have many points, so it's more their problem.”