Fernando Alonso Can Never Forgive Former McLaren Driver, Not Lewis Hamilton, who “Disrespected Him” During His Worst Phase

Former McLaren driver Fernando Alonso has opened up on how he can never forgive one of his previous teammates during his disastrous spell at the British outfit. The Spaniard had two stints with McLaren, with both ending in disappointing fashions.

While his first stint with Lewis Hamilton during the 2007 season ended on quite a sour note, Alonso has still stated that it was during the second stint that he went through his worst phase in life. And the racer who made things difficult for the 41-year-old Spaniard during his second stint was current Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

Alonso replaced Magnussen when he rejoined McLaren in 2015 for his second stint, with the Danish driver taking up the reserve driver role instead. Since it was Alonso that replaced Magnussen, the Danish driver may not have had the best of relationships with the Spaniard from the get-go.

Fernando Alonso explains how Kevin Magnussen worsened his depression in 2018

As quoted by elnacional.cat, the tensions between Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen began after the Danish driver once said, “Fernando Alonso believes himself to be God. I am looking forward to his retirement“.

Alonso explained how the Dane‘s remarks along with his mood at the time resulted in him going through a major period of depression in 2018, a time that also made him consider retirement at one point. Speaking of this low phase, the 41-year-old explained, “I was in low hours, and I didn’t want that because my performance, my competitiveness, was as high as ever back then, but people didn’t see it“.

Despite giving it his all, Alonso had a disastrous spell at McLaren as the two-time world champion struggled to finish even in the top 10 in any of his seasons. Due to McLaren’s struggles in matching the performance of their competitors, the Spaniard finished all the way back in 17th in his first season in 2015 before improving to 10th the year after.

Then in 2017, Alonso once again struggled, as he could only finish 15th in the championship. And with 2018 not getting much better either following an 11th place in the championship, the Spaniard decided to retire from the sport before returning with Alpine in 2021.

Alonso and Magnussen have had contrasting starts to their seasons in 2023

Even though Fernando Alonso raised several eyebrows when he announced that he would be moving to Aston Martin this season, the move more than seems to have paid off. The Spaniard is currently third in the championship and has scored 75 points, 30 points behind the Red Bull of Sergio Perez and another 14 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen.

On the other hand, Kevin Magnussen has just scored two points after the first five races and is currently all the way down in 17th in the championship. He has just scored two points and is also four points behind Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg.