Jeremy Clarkson has once again turned on Lewis Hamilton, this time in a newspaper column as he bemoaned what he thinks is the 7-time world champion's penchant for complaining and making excuses too often.
In his column for The Sun, Clarkson took aim at a number of Hamilton's actions from the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, including his complaints about Fernando Alonso blocking his way and the suggestion made by Hamilton on the podium that he may be suffering from long Covid.
Clarkson wrote: "Lewis Hamilton needs a smacked bottom. He spent most of last week's thrilling race on the radio, claiming the chap in front of him Fernando Alonso was cheating.
"Which he wasn't. And then when Lewis finishes in third place, he flopped about on the podium claiming he has 'long Covid.'
"Which seems to me to be another way of saying: 'Please ignore Esteban Ocon, the rookie who just beat me. I'm the real hero and don't you forget that.'
"Well I'm sorry Lewis, but if you behave like that, you aren't. Oh, and pay your taxes."
This is not the first time that Clarkson has taken aim at Hamilton recently. During the Hungarian Grand Prix, the former Top Gear presenter took to Twitter as bizarre circumstances led to Hamilton being the only driver on the track during a red flag restart.
Clarkson tweeted in jest: "Ah. Clever. Only Hamilton on the track. That way he can't hit anybody."
Clarkson was in that instance referring to the now-infamous incident between Lewis Hamilton and his title rival Max Verstappen at Silverstone.
Hamilton crashed into Verstappen during a fiercely contested first lap, causing the Red Bull driver to crash at high speed into the barriers.
Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty during the race for his role in the crash, but he overcame that to win the race to the dismay of Red Bull and Verstappen.
After another incident with a Mercedes driver in Hungary, that time Valtteri Bottas, Verstappen has surrendered what was a 32-point lead in the Drivers' Championship to now trail Hamilton by eight points.
F1 returns on August 27 after a three-week mid-season break at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix.
