From laughter to battles
Even before the 2007 season, Mercedes launched a nice commercial in which they were present Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton intent on repeatedly challenging each other in some small 'battles': who arrived at the hotel first, or who managed to train better in the gym, and then found themselves in the sauna with Mika Hakkinen. All this in a joking and laughing atmosphere between the two, who were in their first season with the at the time McLarenthe exact opposite of what the relationship between them would have been during that World Cup.
Never friends
In the DAZN documentary 'Fernando. Revealed'the Spanish driver himself revealed some behind the scenes of that controversial championship, in which the rivalry with the then British rookie had serious consequences on the world title, later won by Kimi Raikkonen: “Now there's another kind of rivalry, but I don't think we'll be friends in the future, I don't think we ever will be – has explained – I don't think we share many things. In 2007 the rivalry was at a higher level. We were on the same team, in the same garage, we traveled together many times and attended meetings. We started to notice that there was friction and tension; we were playing the World Championship and every Sunday race. You arrived at the team meeting and looked at his telemetry, the on-board cameras of the car and you realized that, for example, his car wasn't going very far. When he spoke in meetings he complained about the rear, but the team was not taking a direction or a philosophy to develop a car that suited both of us. Everyone was looking for their own to have that extra advantage, because we were very equal. There were many things that broke the harmony that year. We were young, immatureme first, and we had many clashes.”
The accusation against Ron Dennis
Years after that championship, the two-time world champion has repeatedly criticized the former Team Principal Ron Dennisdoing it also in this circumstance: “We had a boss who he didn't know how to control the situation – he added – it wouldn't have happened with Flavio Briatore or Lawrence Stroll. In F1 there are characters who command respect and others in which the drivers control the situation. In that 2007 McLaren, we pilots had too much control and no one gave us a serious warning“.
Always in contrast
2007, however, was not the only season in which the two drivers battled, fueling their rivalry: “We've had more friction over time – he concluded – in 2013, in Canada, we were playing cat and mouse; also ad Abu Dhabi 2023. In Bahrain it was the happiest moment of the year because I had arrived in Aston Martin and in the fight for the podium I had to pass Hamilton. Every time we passed each other there was a mixture of satisfaction and disappointmentand I believe that we will always carry this with us.”
#AlonsoHamilton #friends #don39t
