Stories of the season: Hamilton versus Alonso

2007 F1 season review

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In years to come we may recognise Lewis Hamilton vs Fernando Alonso as one of F1’s greatest rivalries.

And just like the struggle between the sport’s most notorious antagonists – Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost – their rivalry began at McLaren.

Here is how the battle of the season unfolded – both on the track and off it.

Qualifying for the first race in Melbourne set the tone for the season. Lewis Hamilton was two tenths of a second faster than Fernando Alonso in the first part. He repeated it in the second part until Alonso, oddly, chose to do an extra lap, which proved quick enough to put him ahead of his team mate.

He cemented that position in the final part of qualifying by taking second, Hamilton (carrying more fuel) fourth behind Nick Heidfeld. But at the start of the race Alonso received the clear message that his new team mate would be no push over.

Neither McLaren started well from the dirty side of the grid and Heidfeld passed Alonso just as Robert Kubica took Hamilton. But the Briton fought back, not only passing Kubica around the outside of the first corner, but Alonso as well.

Hamilton demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for perfectly judging his braking point for the first corner of a race which we would see again at Sepang, the Nurburgring and Monza. But although he led Alonso at the start, the Spaniard was ahead by the end of the race.

In the light of what happened later it’s ironic to remember that Hamilton inadvertently helped Alonso win the Malaysian Grand Prix. Another stunning start carried him past both Ferraris, and millimetre-perfect defensive driving duped Felipe Massa into a mistake for which the Ferrari driver was justifiably pilloried.

Hamilton kept Raikkonen tucked up while Alonso scampered off to head a McLaren one-two, the Spanish driver taking the championship lead.

Hamilton turns the table

That would all change in Bahrain, however, where Hamilton beat Alonso for the first time. Alonso struggled with his brakes and finished fifth after being passed by Heidfeld. Alonso should have beaten Hamilton in Spain, but he went off at the first corner trying to pass Massa and fell back. The rookie took the lead of the drivers’ championship.

Alonso took his second win at Monte-Carlo, but he knew that Hamilton was closing in. Had Hamilton not happened across Mark Webber’s Red Bull while on a hot lap, he was set to out-qualify Alonso despite carrying more fuel.

During the race McLaren pitted Hamilton early for fuel to prevent him being vulnerable should the safety car come out. But it cost him a shot at the win and remarks from Hamilton in the press conference hinting at what had gone on led to McLaren being investigated by the FIA for using team orders. They were cleared, but it focussed attention on the developing battle between the two drivers.

Alonso goes public

The lack of empathy between the two became even clearer at Montreal. Hamilton took his first pole position but was put on the defensive after a bad start. Alonso tried to pass him at the first corner but, just as in Spain, he ran wide and fell back.

While Hamilton pressed his advantage fortune turned against Alonso. He pitted while the pit lane was closed during a safety car appearance (presumably not having left any extra fuel in the tank as Hamilton had at Monte-Carlo) for which he was given a drive-through penalty, dropping him to seventh by the flag.

After the race Alonso’s words seemed a little uncharitable, but it seemed he was more angry with the safety car than unhappy with his team mate:

The safety car always makes the races a lottery and you need luck. I had to stop on lap 24, and the safety car come out on lap 24; I had to stop on lap 49-50 and it came out on lap 47, and that was the race for me.

My team mate benefited the most. As I said, the safety car is a lottery and there can’t be a race where you are more unlucky. There will be other times when it will be my turn to have a good race and the rest will have all the bad luck.

But it was also at this point in the season that we became used to hearing remarks coming out of Alonso’s briefings to the Spanish press that did not turn up in the British reports. Alonso said:

Well, right from the start I’ve never felt totally comfortable. I have a British team mate in a British team, and he’s doing a great job and we know that all the support and help is going to him and I understood that from the beginning.

He added, “but I’m not complaining,” somewhat disingenuously, for stating that your team is favouring your team mate can hardly be considered anything else.

There were no mistaking the signs all was not well at McLaren the following week at Indianapolis. Once again Hamilton won from pole, but under constant pressure from Alonso who briefly drew alongside his team mate approaching turn one. Having failed to get past, on the next lap he drove right up to his pit wall, signalling his frustration at being unable to pass Hamilton.

At the French Grand Prix Hamilton extended his championship lead to 14 points after Alonso suffered gearbox trouble in qualifying. But now Alonso began to fight back, beating Hamilton at the Briton’s home track, then taking a maximum ten points off him with a brilliant win at the Nurburgring.

Meltdown at the Hungaroroing

Perhaps it was the feeling Alonso was seizing the initiative that led Hamilton to tweak his team mate’s temper at the Hungaroring. In the short term it produced exactly the result Hamilton wanted. But the long term effects for the team would be disastrous.

McLaren’s complicated approach to guaranteeing each driver received equal treatment was somewhat opaque, and involved giving one driver the advantage of an extra lap’s worth of fuel during qualifying at certain circuits where it was deemed possible. The Hungaroring was one of them, and Alonso was due the priority at a venue where overtaking is notoriously difficult and pole position is especially prized.

So when Hamilton refused to let Alonso lead the way at the start of qualifying as had been arranged, the Spanish driver fumed. Exactly what McLaren might have done to redress the discrepancy isn’t clear, for Alonso chose to ensure his team mate’s disadvantage by blocking him in the pits. This was a fatal act of foolishness.

Alonso, more than any other driver, must have been aware of the rule forbidding drivers from impeding each other during qualifying. He had suffered a highly contentious enforcement of that rule at Monza only last year. But where that punishment had been questionable, here Alonso had quite plainly stopped Hamilton from getting a lap in, and his punishment was inevitable.

Hamilton won the race, Alonso was fourth, and if the visible problems at McLaren looked bad what was going on behind the scenes was disastrous.

McLaren had already been called before the World Motor Sports Council once to explain why its chief designer Mike Coughlan had been in possession of a 780-page dossier of Ferrari intellectual property. Having convinced the court that the information had not been disseminated within the team, McLaren were cleared.

But on the morning before the Hungarian Grand Prix a furious Alonso told Ron Dennis that he was in possession of a series of incriminating emails linked to the documents. Alonso threatened that if Dennis did not rein in Hamilton he was give the material to the FIA.

This was Dennis’s testimony at the second WMSC hearing, and although Alonso has denied it he has not yet explained his version of events. The FIA offered all McLaren’s drivers immunity if they handed over any relevant emails. Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa did (Hamilton apparently had none) and McLaren were punished with expulsion from the constructors’ championship and a record fine.

Fighting till the end

Two moments in the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix illustrated how relations between the pair had degenerated – on Alonso’s side, at least. At the start of the Monza race Hamilton squeezed Massa hard to keep the Brazilian behind – but left the Ferrari driver just enough room to stay on the track.

Alonso did Hamilton no such favours at Spa, swinging across and forcing the Briton wide, even compromising his own drive out of the corner by running onto the grasscrete. But he kept ahead and took a point off his team mate on a day when Ferrari were dominant.

Alonso’s move brought no reaction from the stewards, but it was telling that the Spanish driver had resorted to the kind of driving he had attacked Michael Schumacher for at the British Grand Prix four years earlier.

The Japanese Grand Prix was a compelling, high-pressure showdown between the pair. Before the race Hamilton was asked if Alonso was loyal to McLaren:

No. I think the team have gone out of their way. As Fernando has been the world champion coming into the team, especially at the beginning of the season he’s the guy that’s supposed to take them to the championship, they’ve bent over backwards to make him feel comfortable.

Me and Pedro [de la Rosa] have done the same, we’ve been told: ‘try and make Fernando feel welcome in the team.’ We’ve done that, and then you saw what he did to the team.

Pole went to Hamilton by seven hundredths of a second and when the race finally got underway he pulled out enough of a lead over Alonso that they emerged from the pits with several cars between them. Alonso crashed out and, with a 12-point lead, the title was Hamilton’s to lose.

‘We were racing Alonso’

It all looked to be going the British driver’s way when he took pole position at Shanghai. Alonso was fourth, two-thirds of a second slower, and when he returned to the pits he threw his helmet across the room, almost broke a door off its hinges, and insinuated that the team had fiddled with his tyre pressures.

An incredible error by McLaren and Hamilton left him floundering on destroyed tyres in the Chinese race. He failed to finish, and went into the last race four points ahead of Alonso and seven ahead of Raikkonen.

Following the blunder Dennis made a remark that sent Alonso’s fans (and Alonso himself) to new heights of suspicion. Speaking of Hamilton’s race Dennis said:

The problem was rain and [Hamilton’s] tyres were in the worst condition. But we weren’t at all fazed about Kimi. We weren’t racing Kimi, we were basically racing Fernando.

Kimi winning and Lewis coming second was adequate. It just didn’t quite work out that way.

Was this testimony to Alonso’s belief that the entire McLaren team was working for Hamilton? Or was this an ill-worded grammatical slip in the heat of the moment, when Dennis failed to realise that the watching world didn’t know he was talking about Hamilton’s half of the team, rather than the whole team?

Whatever it means, it certainly falls a long way short of conclusive, hard proof, whatever the conspiracy theorists may say. What Alonso made of it is unclear. Before the final race he seemed to clear up the matter, saying:

I was surprised, but I think it is difficult to see what is true, what is just normal words that you say after the race and if you take in a different way you can make some problems. I don’t see anything strange, I was surprised but not really worried.

But after the championship had been decided he took a different slant:

What my team boss stated in China, saying that they weren’t racing against Raikkonen but against me, was a declaration of intent.

The FIA bowed to Alonso’s demands and appointed a steward at Interlagos to keep an eye on the McLaren pit during qualifying. He found nothing.

Hamilton started second but Raikkonen and Alonso passed him at the start. Then Alonso delivered an exquisitely timed sucker punch, slowing a fraction early for Subida do Lago, sending Hamilton skidding off the track.

Hamilton would probably have recovered from that but for his gearbox problem on lap eight that sent him plunging down the order. While he fought back to within two places of the world championship, Alonso made no impression on the Ferraris and finished almost a minute behind the champion Raikkonen.

Tied

The pair had been inseparable all season and in the final reckoning both scored 109 points. Each won four races, and Hamilton’s larger haul of second place finishes (six to four) put him ahead of Alonso in the final ranking.

Predictably, Alonso railed against McLaren’s appeal concerning several drivers that finished between their two cars that might have used illegally cool fuel.

It would be a joke, and we’ve had too many already. If something like that happened, it would end up burying the sport.

And the failure of the FIA stewards to find anything untoward did nothing to divert Alonso from his claims that the team had not treated him fairly:

In the last races both my hands and feet have been tied. I didn’t have any power. I had to do it all the way they said and that made it harder to close the gap.

The result speaks for itself. McLaren lost the championship probably because of some of the decisions they took, especially in the second half of the season. It’s no secret that they haven’t helped me a lot.

The debates over how McLaren have treated Hamilton and Alonso have raged long and loud in these pages.

The pair fought long and hard all year, and neither was above resorting to psychological tactics to try to unsettle the other.

But Alonso’s decision to vilify his team at every opportunity is a high-risk one and it remains to be seen how his performance this year will be judged. Were he to stay at the seem, which seems unthinkable, would these accusations continue? If he were to stay and the complaints disappear it would be hard to take the criticisms he has made this year seriously.

Or will he instead go to another team and finally reveal some proof about ‘where the bodies are buried’ at McLaren?

This may be only chapter one of the history of Lewis Hamilton versus Fernando Alonso.

Photos: Daimler

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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25 comments on “Stories of the season: Hamilton versus Alonso”

  1. Bit biased towards LH
    There is no way LH Outqualified FA in Monaco
    Spa Move was proper one …even Ron dennis Publicly said it
    we still dont know whether FA really impeded LH or the team because team also got penalty
    LH’s failure (or we can say choked) in last 2 races is downplayed

    1. Funny reading this, years later. Even in 2007 Lewis was talentless apparently.

  2. The article isn’t about which driver did better than the other (I’ll do that later) – it’s about how their relationship degenerated throughout the year.

  3. Hamilton is an excellent driver, and I liked when I saw him for first time, he did seems a nice guy and he is black(or half), and I thinked this would be good for a sport not known for its ethnic diversity. I like his driving and I like to watch how he was able to rivalise with Alonso, I am always with the rookie in any sport.

    If somebody has serious doubts about what your team is doing, should he allow it without saying nothing?

    “Fernando is a nice guy, but he was the No. 1 at Renault and he was used to winning and getting everything,” Montoya said. “Then he went to McLaren, and when (Montoya’s wife) Connie and I heard that Lewis was going to be his teammate, we said ‘Oh my God.’

    “We immediately felt sorry for Fernando because Lewis is Ron’s baby. Ron paid his whole career, so Ron wants him to win and not Fernando. He would rather see Lewis win, who is like his own child to Ron. Fernando is nothing to him.”

    This is a problem caused by Hamilton (and I would say, his ubiquous father too), all of them said to be agreed, one of them did not fulfill with his given word.

    “Me and Pedro [de la Rosa] have done the same, we’ve been told: ‘try and make Fernando feel welcome in the team.’ We’ve done that, and then you saw what he did to the team.”

    This is just a joke or a provocation, I do not comment this.

    This is that Coulthard has to say about Dennis.

    ‘The first sign that there might be specific favouritism towards Mika came in Melbourne 1996 [Coulthard’s first race for McLaren]. I was with my race engineer and Mika was chatting to his.

    ‘The door opened and Ron [Dennis] walked in. I stood up to shake his hand and Ron ignored me. Instead he strode over to sit next to Mika and said, “What’s the plan, guys?” We all listened to Mika’s plans [for the race] and then Ron said, “OK, what are they doing?” Here was my team principal talking about me as if I was a rival team. “They” is not a word you use in a team situation, surely? At that exact moment, I think the naivety, the innocence of my youth, shattered around me.’

    “despite continual assurances to the contrary, it took Dennis a few years to admit that he did favour Hakkinen.”(Maurice Hamilton)

    “But Alonso’s decision to vilify his team at every opportunity is a high-risk one ”

    An only driver has not the power to vilify a team, if there is not nothing to support his accusations. We have seen too much things that support his claims againts McLaren.

    When are we going to stop to talk about this?

  4. I think you raise a few interesting points there Carlos – particularly the Coulthard quote, which I was originally going to use but thought the piece was long enough! I did refer to it in the review of the book a few weeks ago.

    But I think you misunderstood some things. I never said Alonso was not allowed to criticise McLaren, but I did question whether his claims were accurate.

    You can’t solely blame Hamilton for what happened in Hungary for the reasons explained above. It boils down to this: Alonso broke a rule and Hamilton didn’t.

    And I disagree that, “we have seen too much things that support his claims against McLaren.” Actually we’ve seen nothing that supports what Alonso says, save for a single remark from Dennis, discussed at great length above, that can be taken at least two different ways. There is no hard proof and Alonso hasn’t even bothered to give his version of events at the Hungaroring.

    Regarding driver equality, there’s another piece coming on that tomorrow…

  5. Looking at the comments above, thank heavens that Raikkonen won the title…

    By the by, anyone noticed that Alonso has a very Prost-like helmet, while Hamilton’s is very much like Senna’s was…

  6. Keith I always felt that you were very fair in your reports but this one I personally feel is a bit biased towards Lewis.
    Most probably its unintentional but its pretty clear that amoung the Mc Laren’s big 3 (Lewis, Alonso and Ron) you feel that Alonso did most of the damage to the team… An opinion which I dont share.

    I think the biggest folly from the Spaniard’s side was to try and do something different than he needed to. That was what gave Lewis the advantage… If Alonso had remained as cool as he was in 06 he would have walked away from this season a 3 times world champ! Ironically it was similar mistakes from Lewis and the team towards the end that cost em the title.

  7. I don’t think there was a huge list of things Hamilton and Dennis did which I overlooked. And I certainly didn’t list every single damaging comment Alonso made…

  8. In the article you claim that Alonso attempted to blackmail Ron Dennis to make him the number one driver. Is there any proof of this, other than Ron Dennis saying so? What about what Ron Dennis did? 1) Handing Fernando’s setup data over to Lewis (we’ll see how fast Lewis is when Fernando is gone) 2) Forcing Fernando to use brakes he did not like 3) Favoring Hamilton while claiming equality. Ron Dennis and the Brit media attempted to destroy Alonso’s reputation by making false claims about and calling him a whinger. Again, we’ll see how good McLaren is and fast Lewis is without Fernando’s input next season.

  9. Good piece, Keith. I do not know much about your previous posts, having only been tracking your posts/site for a fortnight or so. Hence, would not comment on your work or/and ethos.

    However, would you disagree with me, when i say, that Montoya(“No, not Hamilton” to General press) has an opinion, so does DC(to F1 Racing about Ron), Kimi(Never been happier than this year with Ferrari) does too and so does Alonso about Ron? Let me assure you, their opinions are all too similar. They all could and given an opportunity would, ask Ron to go effin swivel. Oops! That was Hamilton, my bad.

    Anyways, i think, media and others have rather not been so critical of McLaren(Ron & Hamilton) and have given them an easy time. As an observer, i’d say you’d be guilty of doing the same, unless you were a Macca supporter yourself, in which case it’s understandable. Not justifiable, however, understandable, it is. I would expect a fair bit of criticism and stick, going the McLaren’s way, for not handling their drivers any better than they did. At least, in the light of the comments made by Montoya when the season was to begin(Oh my god, not Hamilton!). Thing is, i think all would have jumped the gun to shoot down, if it were Ferrari and Michael. Which is, fairly put, rather disappointing. Also, consider how many times Hamilton was let off the hook by the FIA. Where, if in the same position as Hamilton, any other driver, possibly would not have gone unpunished. Just as well, do you really believe, that Hamilton had no knowledge what so ever of the Ferrari info doing rounds in Macca camp?

    Come on Keith, i would suspect a lot of discrepancies, to explain the pace difference between Hamilton and Alonso. Hamilton is fast, agreed. However, fast enough to leave Alonso in his wake, is just wishful thinking! What am saying or trying to imply, is the fact(which i am gonna have to say, i have not much proof, but Ron’s comment and Dc’s to back it up), to Ron, some are more equals than others. Also, that they have deliberately, if not squandered, then not further the cause of Alonso’s 3rd championship.

    Keep up the good work. You write very well. My frustration is with the Media, not really bollocking Ron & Hamilton Co(Macca) proper. Some of them, is what has pretty much what boiled down in this note, as i do not see you criticising Macca, as well. Nothing personal. However, i like fair praise given when due, also stick to be shoved up and hard when due(Macca’s been a long time overdue).

    Thanks for your writeups.

  10. Regarding comment 9, the paragraph at the bottom of the ‘Meltdown’ section makes it quite clear that it was Ron Dennis’s side of the story and that Alonso hasn’t given his version of events. I wish I could tell you what Alonso’s side of it is, but he hasn’t said.

    Regarding brakes, Alonso wanted to try to Hitcos he had used at Renault (instead of McLaren’s usual Carbone Industries discs), so he did.

    Regarding “handing over Fernando’s setup data” and “Favoring Hamilton while claiming equality”, I think today’s article on driver equality might shed some light.

    And regarding comment 10, to be honest I’m not a fan of any particular team although I won’t deny that Hamilton doing well has increased traffic to F1Fanatic which I do like! I’m not sure if asking whether the FIA have been kind to Hamilton says a lot about the Hamilton/Alonso rivalry, so I’ll tackle that in a different article next week. There’s some on it in here.

    1. Back in 2007 McLaren used Akebono brakes

  11. Fair’s fair mate. Yes, i’d agree that Macca could have blown an engine here or there, for that matter everywhere. That, however, would have had gotten them reprimanded by the FIA. FIA, fearing the same, after Hungary, had an independent steward watching over Macca, which(Macca) may or may not have conspired(to blow Alonso’s car up).

    Besides, there’s not much to do mate, if one wanted to conk of an F1 car. Modern electronics are so sophisticated, they could alter any thing on the car and not many could tell. Which could make a car faster or slower. All am saying is… Hamilton is fast, is fact that is acceptable. Faster than Alonso by 6 tenths of a second, over 3 gp weekends… questionable!

    What worries me, is the fact, that most journalists have written Alonso off. Now, he is a double champion. It is the same bunch(of nitwit journos), who cheered him on when fighting Schumi. Can he become so slow in a season? Can he lose his drive, desire, need, that insatiable urge to win, in less than a season? NO! I think not.

    Macca has a history of screwing drivers up. Let’s not forget that my friend. DC, Montoya and Prost amongst others.

  12. everyone is always saying that to win a championship that the driver needs to fit perfectly within the team and that having a strong driver team relationship is so vital…..you know what I am talking about….well Alonso had nothing like that this year…you know that as well….then would it not seem to far fetched to say that Alonso’s on track driving this year has been amazing. Well above that of Lewis and Kimi who in similar cars had very strong relationships with their teams. This year I have gained a great amount of respect for Alonso who a started out disliking. Sure he has caused to some degree his off track problems but look at it from his point of view….

    You are a two time world champion having decrowned MS. you sign a deal to go to Mclaren, your boyhood dream team. but when you get to this English team they have just taken the risky move of signing on a rookie, an English rookie who has a strong relationship with the team already and RD. now, rather than getting no. 1 status that a two time world champ and only champ on the grid deserves, you find your self getting second best treatment (lets not kid our self) from day one. Of course all the focus is going to be on the new English kid who is under a lot of pressure to perform in one of the top teams…

    I think you get the picture now… the way Alonso has been treated this year has been a joke. If that was me going into the team then a would be so ****** off it would be hard to concentrate just on driving. RD has thrown away two world championships this year. Lewis in the end has made some huge rookie mistakes…throwing away the championship that was seemingly in the bag..It’s just odd that all the major mistakes came at the end of the season (Australia had a few little ones when I watched it again the other day) china was a big stupid error on his part. The condition of the tires is irrelevant. He came in way to fast, forgetting that the pit lane was not the drying track that he was coming off. Thank god they couldn’t push him because the way he got a lift earlier in the season from the tractor was a joke after senna lost a world title for a lot less. Brazil… well he was a real rookie at the start and then did he press that button? It sure as hell looks like it in the vid, I just can’t figure out what his finger was doing there mid corner. Who does adjustments mid corner rather than on the straight? Really, who?

    Now I don’t want anyone to get me wrong, I am not a Lewis hater. I started out really likeing the guy and I think he will probably be the best talent in f1 for some time to come, but I do dislike his father a lot and I just don’t think he deserved to win the title in his rookie year, he is just to immature to me at the moment( in Monaco he got hot headed and disobeyed team orders and went after Alonso who really had his measure on that track. and other stuff like his driving behind the safety car and other comments) I just think that he takes it all for granted and I would like to see him do some tough time before he wins that title. Get some respect for being in a fast car.

    Well that’s just by 2 cents anyway

  13. I concur with the post above.

    Pre Mnaco Lewis seems a really nice guy. Somehow at that he race, juz because he won at that track in junior classes doesnt mean he has the right to win at F1 level. Alonso took pole, fastest lap and won the race fair n square. Lewis can complain abt tripping over Webber during qualy but Webber clearly moved over, he cant expect people to stop in the middle of the hairpin, Webber had to find a spot and that was juz before the tunnel.After the race, Lewis moaned on and on about being no.2 and has the no.2 on his car and the Brits made a meal out of it and made Alonso look like a criminal. To me thats when the war started.

  14. i would say it is nothing more than a totally biased article..
    “Hamilton started second but Raikkonen and Alonso passed him at the start. Then Alonso delivered an exquisitely timed sucker punch, slowing a fraction early for Subida do Lago, sending Hamilton skidding off the track.”

    i never heard of someone saying this…
    pressing the limiter was the kiddish mistake from hamilton in the championship decider

  15. a totally biased article:)

    will this change the fact that alonso is better than hamilton?

    “Hamilton started second but Raikkonen and Alonso passed him at the start. Then Alonso delivered an exquisitely timed sucker punch, slowing a fraction early for Subida do Lago, sending Hamilton skidding off the track.”

    i never heard someone saying this…

    keith i liked this blog but this article has dissapointed me and its a huge turn off..

  16. Shery – I don’t understand what your problem with it is? Hamilton’s attempt to pass Alonso at the start and Hamilton’s problem later on were two different things.

  17. As a Fernando Alonso fan (and looking back on last year from a few months on) I have to say that I did not like the way hamilton acted at all. I did support him and like him a the start of the season, but after monaco I started going off him – it was totally uncalled for to imply he was #2. By Hungary the transition was completed and I was a fully fledged hamilton hater and loved Alonso more because of it. Looking at the things he said last year it was almost as if he wanted Fernando out the team so it could be all about him, he should have taken is role as a rookie and used the year to learn all he could from Fernando.

    Their relationship degraded in my opinion because hamilton started whining to the british press about alonso which resulted in a retaliation from the spaniard. The situation really then seemed to spiral out of control from then but the one question I have got to ask is; Where was RonDennis? He should have banged both their heads together and say get on with your jobs and stop whinging or you will both be out of a seat next season. As team principal he should have sorted the situation out in the beginning instead of letting it get so bad.

    In the end I would say no one is really to blame but Ron Dennis. He should have had both men controlled and been able to sort it out. He should have supported Fernando for the title (as a double world champ) and let Lewis play the supporting role as it was his first year.

    1. Why would Lewis play a supporting role when he was clearly a title contender? Then again, you have a Ferrari pic, so you’re used to a one man show.

  18. I totally agree with Amy. Hamilton should have learned from Alonso and who knows? Maybe Alonso could have won the drivers championship for the third time.

    1. Yeah, should’ve learned from Alonso even though he was clearly able to hold his own, from day one and he was also fighting for the title too. You’re a genius.

  19. Im still trying to find a valid reason why some people think Hamilton was quicker or better than Alonso in 2007. Did they not finish up on equal points ??

    As for a comparison between the 2 since 2007. I think the results are obvious.

    1. Despite Lewis was a rookie and took more second places…
      The truth is Lewis is the best drivers on the field and this is nothing because he has the best car. Last year he won races with the Merc, against the superior Red Bulls. And he will win next year, no doubt about

      1. Wow someone who understood what was really going on. Lewis is a special driver.

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