Fernando Alonso claims Ron Dennis didn’t know how to control the situation between him and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren

Fernando Alonso reckoned that Ron Dennis failed to manage his rivalry with Lewis Hamilton during the 2007 F1 season.

Fernando Alonso claims Ron Dennis didn’t know how to control the situation between him and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren

Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Ron Dennis (Via IMAGO)

The two F1 veterans Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were teammates at McLaren back in 2007. However, teaming up with two talented drivers in the same team meant obvious tensions within the team. Alonso and Hamilton clashed heads with each other on multiple occasions over one year of partnership within the sport. With the two-time world champion leaving the team after just a single season.

Recently, Fernando Alonso opened up about the situation back in 07′ and highlighted the issues within Ron Dennis‘ leadership of the team. The Asturian explained that the two drivers were young and immature and hence clashed with each other often. Additionally, Alonso claimed that Dennis didn’t know how to control the situation between his drivers.

We were young, immature, I was the first, and we had many encounters. And then we had a boss who didn't know how to control the situation.
Alonso told on ‘Fernando: Revelado’ documentry (H&T: soymotor.com).
YouTube video

Following these comments, Alonso further added that if the boss were to be Flavio Briatore or Lawrence Stroll, such situations wouldn’t arise between the two. The Spaniard reckoned that he and Hamilton had a little too much control over the situation and nobody warned the two drivers of this either. Hence, this caused multiple tensions to arise within the team. So much so, that Alonso blocked Hamilton in the pits during the Hungarian GP that year.

I think this with Flavio Briatore would not have happened, or with Lawrence Stroll. In that 2007 McLaren, the pilots had too much control, and nobody gave us a serious warning.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton remain arch-rivals to this day

There would be many things that would not be disclosed to the public about this rivalry. Additionally, Fernando Alonso explained that the 2007 year was a challenging year and there wasn’t much memory of it. Immaturity and lack of teamwork from Hamilton and Alonso’s side caused further issues for the team and made the year very difficult for everyone at McLaren in 2007.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton forMcLaren in 2007
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton for McLaren in 2007 (Credits: The Mirror)

However, following that year, not everything was good between the two veterans of the sport. Alonso admitted that there has been another kind of rivalry since then. The Asturian mentioned that he didn’t see both of the drivers being friends after that situation and both didn’t share many things.

Regardless of the situation back in 2007, both drivers have been excelling a lot in their respective careers ever since. Hamilton went on to win the 2008 season of Formula 1 when Alonso quit from the team after the growing tensions. Hence, both the drivers have moved on from the situation, yet aren’t as close as they could’ve been.

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