Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton seemed to have a tense relationship during their McLaren days as both did not see eye to eye. As a result, the Woking-based outfit had a huge task on their hands on most occasions to ensure that the two drivers worked together to achieve the goals of the team. While it remains unclear about who between the two perhaps caused more trouble, Gerry Convy, who is a former McLaren trainer, has gone 16 years back to explain why he believes that Hamilton was a better team player than Alonso.
As for the problems at McLaren between Alonso and Hamilton, they were evident as the Spaniard has publicly admitted the same. The current Aston Martin driver explained in an interview with the Daily Mail (as quoted by gpfans.com) earlier this year that there were tensions between him and Hamilton because it were their McLaren bosses that did not manage the situation well.
Alonso believes that the McLaren management needed to be better in managing the situation as both he and Hamilton were “young” and “immature“. While the 42-year-old seems to have lay the blame on the McLaren management, Convy believes that it was the Spaniard that was never a good team player.
“Alonso simply did not turn up“: Convy on how not to be a team player
Taking to his Instagram account, Gerry Convy put up a post to explain to his followers about why he believes Fernando Alonso was not a good team player. Convy did so by going back 16 years to reveal how McLaren-Mercedes had set up a team building camp in Finland back in 2007.
The former McLaren trainer then pointed out that Lewis Hamilton turned up for the camp but Alonso did not. Convy believes that since this camp helped set the tone for the rest of the 2007 season, the Spaniard needed to have been present to prove that he is a good team player.
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However, with the 42-year-old not showing up back then, Convy has now gone on to slam him. The former McLaren trainer concluded his post by writing, “No one is bigger than your team or organization,” as a way of taking a direct aim at Alonso.
Interestingly, the partnership between Alonso and Hamilton did not seem to work out as a year after, the Spaniard left the team to return to Renault. While the former McLaren trainer seems frustrated with Alonso for an incident back in 2007, it does seem that the Spaniard is an entirely different person this season.
Fernando Alonso has been very helpful to Lance Stroll
Fernando Alonso has seemingly attempted to mentor Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll on various occasions this season. The same was evident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when the Spaniard advised Stroll to use his car’s brake balance for the race.
This was not the only time that Alonso seemingly worked well with Stroll as the 42-year-old also did not overtake his Canadian teammate at the Spanish Grand Prix despite having more pace. Considering how helpful Alonso has been to a teammate this year in comparison to his previous years, some experts such as Joe Saward has claimed that the Spaniard is only doing so to get in the good books of Aston Martin F1 owner Lawrence Stroll.
“Alonso would not usually be happy behind his teammate, but he knows these days that things are better if he’s nice about his boss’ son,” wrote Saward in an article for Grand Prix Plus Magazine. However, Alonso seems to have denied the same, having told BBC’s Chequered Flag earlier this year that the only reason he is helping Stroll is because he sees the Canadian as the future of the sport.
