F1: Alonso mocks Ferrari after war of words with Lewis Hamilton

Fernando Alonso's relationship with Lewis Hamilton has hit the rocks yet again after the Spaniard labelled the Mercedes driver an "idiot" after their Lap 1 collision at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Spaniard also poked fun at Ferrari after their late strategy blunder gifted him fifth place.

The two-time Formula 1 world champion started the Belgian GP in P3 after the likes of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc took grid penalties. Alonso had moved into second place after turn 1, but Hamilton, who started P5 gained on the Spaniard on the Kemmel straight before attempting an overtake at Turn 5.

Alonso kept the racing line on the inside and gave Hamilton sufficient room on the outside. But the Briton misjudged his line, and turned into the Alpine racer, which saw the Mercedes rear tyre collide with the Spaniard's front right, launching the Mercedes car in the air.

Hamilton was forced to retire his car with gearbox issues, while Alonso lost his second place and dropped to fifth. The former McLaren driver was furious with his former teammate, and launched a tirade on the team radio while also questioning the seven-time world champion's ability to race other cars.

"What an idiot closing the door from the outside. We had a mega start but this guy only knows how to drive starting first," Alonso told his race engineer.

The Mercedes driver accepted his mistake after the race, but made it clear that he will not speak to Alonso after hearing the Spaniard's scathing remarks. The two drivers had developed mutual respect for each other following their tumultuous 2007 season as teammates at McLaren, but it has yet again been dented after Belgium.

The collision with Hamilton compromised Alonso's race, and forced to him to abandon a chance to fight for a podium place. He was resigned to a sixth place finish behind Leclerc, but was gifted fifth after Ferrari made a late call to pit the Monegasque driver on the penultimate lap as they chased the fastest lap of the race.

The Italian team brought Leclerc in despite the driver labelling it a risk, and as expected Alonso moved ahead of the Ferrari. Leclerc, however, utilised Ferrari's speed to pass the Alpine on the final lap, but was caught speeding in the pit lane which triggered an automatic five-second time penalty and cost him P5.

"It is OK, Ferrari has been doing strange things, so that was another strange thing," Alonso said, talking about Ferrari's late call while pointing out that it was not the first time the Italian team had bungled their strategy this season, as quoted on Autosport.