Fernando Alonso thinks that neither he, nor Lewis Hamilton were ready to fight for the title when they were teammates back in 2007.
Hamilton and Alonso were teammates at McLaren for just one season. They performed incredibly well and both drivers finished the season at 109 points, just 1 behind Champion Kimi Raikkonen. Off the track however, things were not going smooth for either.
Alonso joined the British team after winning 2 consecutive World Titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006. Hamilton on the other hand was in his rookie year, but took the sport by storm. It seemed like a good pairing but turbulent off track relations between the two forced the Spaniard to leave McLaren at the end of the season.
In the recent episode of ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast, the 40 year old said that both himself and Lewis could have done a lot better that season.
Also read: Fernando Alonso wants to fight Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for the championship in 2022
“I think with Lewis, we didn’t have the competition that I was looking for,” Alonso said.
“It’s true that in 2007 we shared the team. And that’s for the general people seemed to be the biggest fight you could have. But in 2007 I think we were both not ready.”
“Understandably, he was not maybe ready for the fight. He was a rookie and coming into Formula 1, and I was not performing at my best. I was not really integrated with the team.” he continued.
“For sure, we had all the fights together and all the stress together to fight for the championship. We were not well managed at that time.” “Okay, we finished with the same points in the championship, which you could see as a very big fight and an even fight, but I think we both could have done better.”
You have to be at your best to compete with Hamilton, says Fernando Alonso
Alonso and Hamilton were equal in points the only time they were teammates. That shows how closely matched the two drivers were in terms of performance.
The current Alpine driver thinks that a driver has to be at their very best to challenge someone as good as Lewis. After their McLaren stint, the two drivers never challenged each other on the grid due to difference in their car’s performances.
“In the following years, I had a better package in Ferrari, than him when he was in McLaren,” the Oviedo born driver said. “So we didn’t fight closely.
“Then when he switched to Mercedes, he had a better package and we never had the opportunity again to fight together.”
“So that’s a missing point in my career. But obviously, he is a legend of the sport. He, like Michael Schumacher, pushes you to the limit. Because if you want to beat Lewis, you need to perform at your best.” he concluded.
Hamilton and Alonso are far away from each other in the standings in 2021. The Briton is going after his 8th World Title in an intense fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Alonso on the other hand in 10th in the driver’s standings with 77 points to his name.
