Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso haven’t crossed paths directly in over a decade. However, they’ve rarely shown signs of burying the hatchet on their legendary rivalry, which dates back to their lone season together at McLaren in 2007.
The consensus was that Hamilton, a rookie at the time, got the better of Alonso. But is that really true? After all, they finished level on points and had the same number of wins that season. It’s entirely possible that one of them would have won the title had they not stepped on each other’s toes.
In reality, their battle was far more complex than a simple on-track rivalry. Alonso was frustrated by what he perceived as McLaren favoring Hamilton — a supposed newcomer. But Hamilton wasn’t exactly new, having been part of McLaren’s young driver program for years. Meanwhile, Alonso had only just joined the team that season.
Many also believed that Alonso underestimated Hamilton’s potential, and former Mercedes Vice President Norbert Haug agreed.
“Fernando Alonso could never realize that Hamilton was as fast as him from the start – or even faster. He was world champion twice in a row and said to himself: ‘It can’t be that the newcomer is faster than me.’ But that’s how it was,” Haug said to Sky Germany.
| Norbert Haug, the former VP of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, on Alonso x Hamilton in 2007:
“Fernando Alonso could never realize that Hamilton was as fast as him from the start – or even faster. He was world champion twice in a row and said to himself: ‘It can’t be that the… pic.twitter.com/OnJQ4e1c30
— sim (@simsgazette) March 9, 2025
Refuting claims that McLaren favored Hamilton, Haug insisted that Alonso was never at a disadvantage. It was simply that the young Briton’s brilliance caught the reigning two-time champion off guard.
A year later, Alonso had left McLaren — likely to go and be a number one driver at Renault again — and Hamilton went on to become the sole leader at the Woking-based outfit.
After losing the 2007 title to Kimi Raikkonen by just one point, Hamilton fought off Felipe Massa the following year to become a world champion in only his sophomore season. Perhaps if Alonso had taken Hamilton a bit more seriously, F1 history might have unfolded very differently.
What Alonso thought of Hamilton
Haug’s comments were not a groundbreaking revelation. Former McLaren boss Ron Dennis, who was in charge during the Hamilton-Alonso rivalry, had touched on the subject before.
According to Dennis, Alonso was skeptical about the team hiring a rookie in 2007, believing it would hinder McLaren’s pursuit of the Constructors’ title. “It was very simple — Alonso didn’t expect Hamilton to be that competitive in his first year,” Dennis explained.
“He told me at the beginning that it was my decision to sign a rookie like Hamilton, but that it could cost me the Constructors’ Championship,” he added.
Even Alonso’s most loyal supporters would agree that the Spaniard was wrong about Hamilton. The young Briton proved to be a formidable addition to McLaren’s lineup, contributing heavily to the team’s success. Both he and Alonso finished the season with 109 points each.
Had it not been for their disqualification due to the ‘Spygate’ scandal — where McLaren was accused of obtaining confidential Ferrari design secrets—the team would have comfortably secured the 2007 Constructors’ Championship.
