A congratulatory message from Lewis Hamilton came out of the blue for Wimbledon tennis champion Carlos Alcaraz.
21-year-old Spaniard Alcaraz recorded a straight sets victory over Serbia’s Novak Djokovic to retain the Wimbledon men’s singles title last Sunday, a repeat of last year’s final with the same outcome.
Alcaraz – who received a congratulatory message from American actor Will Smith last year – revealed that Smith had been in touch again this time around to say well done, but was not alone.
Interestingly, among the big names reaching out was seven-time World Champion Hamilton, who made history on British soil a week prior by claiming a record-breaking ninth British Grand Prix victory at Silverstone.
Alcaraz said this was the first time that Hamilton had ever been in touch, while he was not the only Formula 1 driver to do so, with Alcaraz’s fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso also dropping a message.
Asked by Marca if he’s had any well done messages this time around, Alcaraz said: “The congratulations I have received have been similar and very special. From athletes and well-known personalities.
“Will Smith has congratulated me again, Neymar, who is always there following me and I am very grateful. Rafa [Nadal], Pau Gasol, Ilia Topuria, Fernando Alonso.
“I was surprised by Lewis Hamilton’s congratulations because he had never written to me before and we had never had any interaction. I’m sure there are others that I’ve missed, but I’m very happy to receive them all.”
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Next up for Hamilton is the Hungarian Grand Prix, where one more win would see him equal his own record set last time out for most wins at a specific circuit.
However, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had a warning as they head for the Hungaroring, that being he does not believe Mercedes are yet at a stage where they can battle for wins at every round.
Mercedes’ George Russell benefited from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris tangling to win the Austrian GP, but at Silverstone Hamilton made it back-to-back Mercedes wins via pure pace, Russell and Hamilton having locked out the front row.
“We head into the upcoming double header with momentum,” said Wolff.
“We have continued to make progress with the W15 in recent races. That has led to headline results in Austria and Silverstone.
“However, we know we don’t yet have a car that can challenge for victories every weekend.
“The team is working hard to bring more steps of performance that we hope will enable us to do that. Those efforts will continue over the next two races and right up until shutdown.”
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