Lewis Hamilton made his F1 debut back in 2007 with McLaren, and his teammate was the reigning two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso. Before his talent was displayed in front of the entire world, most people expected Hamilton to struggle behind a driver as good as Alonso. However, to everyone’s surprise, the Briton took the fight to his partner and challenged for the world championship in his rookie year.
Alonso and Hamilton developed a frosty relationship, the majority of which was due to Alonso’s allegations that the British team preferred Hamilton. In the end, after multiple off-track clashes within the team, both drivers finished level on points and the drivers’ championship was taken home by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Alonso and McLaren soon parted ways, and Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen replaced him at the team. In a recent interview, Kovalainen explained the reason behind his appointment by the Woking-based outfit, and his talent was not the main reason. According to him, McLaren just wanted to sign someone who would be of no threat to Hamilton.
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McLaren wanted only Lewis Hamilton to fight for world championships
By the end of 2007, it was clear that Hamilton was the number one driver at McLaren. Alonso leaving Surrey to move back to Renault was a sign that the tide had turned at the team, and they wanted to focus only on Hamilton, and maximize his chances of winning the drivers’ championship.
Kovalainen said that McLaren needed someone to come to the team, who wouldn’t cause trouble like Alonso did. They did not want their management to get too involved, only because Alonso’s shenanigans during his rivalry with Hamilton in the previous year was exhausting for the team as a whole.
“I think that was one of the reasons why they hired me,” the 41-year-old said.
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Fernando Alonso’s team wasn’t happy with Kovalainen’ s appointment
Alonso was a very popular person at McLaren, in spite of the off-track drama. The team was essentially divided into two camps, with Alonso’s group being a particularly well-knit one. When the Oviedo-born driver decided to move away from McLaren and rejoin Renault, Kovalainen says that there were team members who weren’t happy.
“Fernando’s team is super tight and they’re a strong group of people. With how things went there, that was a sensitive area for McLaren,” he says.
After a great rookie year with McLaren, Hamilton went on to win the 2008 F1 world championship with them. He drove for the team until the 2012 season after which he joined Mercedes in a move that would reshape the history books for forever.
