“Nothing happened with Hamilton, it was more with the team”– Fernando Alonso clarifies about his rumoured feud with Lewis Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso is one of the most decorated drivers in F1’s history, but once two equally capable drivers are matched in a team, things can go downhill.
That is what happened in 2007 when Alonso was paired with a rising superstar Lewis Hamilton, which soon took a chaotic turn, and in the end, the Spaniard had to mutually terminate his contract with McLaren.
For more than a decade, it was believed that the partnership between Hamilton and Alonso was never meant to be together, but the 39-year-old driver rejects that notion. Instead, he blamed McLaren for the mismanagement.
“Nothing happened with Hamilton. It was more with the team, with which we had our differences. He believed some things that the team gave him and stopped giving,” said Alonso to EFE (translated by Google).
“I believed some things that the team gave me and stopped giving me. And we did not understand each other. But there was always respect between us. Even on the track.”
“We went out on Sundays for a run thinking what we thought, on the inside, of the team. But we always respected each other on the track. And we always try to fight hard, but with respect.”
2007 championship wasn’t stolen
The Spaniard also doesn’t find ground in the belief that the 2007 world championship was stolen by him, which he lost by only a point. He claims if, we go into the intricacies everywhere, then the history of F1 would be totally different.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. A drivers’ championship always has moments of comings and goings. The 2007 one was lost by one point, and that point was in many places.”
“But you don’t think about it anymore. If you turn to the past, you may also think that you were lucky at some time in the World Cups that you won.”
“(Kimi) Raikkonen broke the engine in two or three races that he was leading. In 2006 Michael broke the engine at Suzuka in the penultimate race … so if you start to count, you might not have won the ones you did; and maybe you would have won the ones you didn’t win. So it is better to take what comes to you and enjoy it.”
