Fernando Alonso told McLaren they would lose the constructors title due to signing rookie Lewis Hamilton in 2007

Fernando Alonso was surprised by McLaren's decision to sign Lewis Hamilton for 2007.

Fernando Alonso told McLaren they would lose the constructors title due to signing rookie Lewis Hamilton in 2007

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton (Via: IMAGO)

Fernando Alonso was heading into 2007 after winning two back-to-back world championships. The Spanish driver had high ambitions for the year after moving to McLaren. However, the two-time world champion was surprised to hear that the Woking-based team had signed a rookie Lewis Hamilton to be his teammate.

Then-McLaren boss Ron Dennis recalled his conversation with Alonso. The 76-year-old claimed that the Spanish driver was confident that McLaren would lose the Constructors’ Championship with Lewis Hamilton. Dennis reckoned that even he thought Hamilton would not be a threat to the two-time world champion in his debut season.

I went to Fernando [Alonso] and told him that ‘by the way, I decided to put Lewis [Hamilton] in the other car'. He was thinking for a while and he said, "Don't you want to win the Constructors' Championship?"
Ron Dennis told Essentially Sports

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso had an intense rivalry as teammates. The two drivers fought on track and went head-to-head for the title. Tensions remained high within the team. Ultimately, Alonso decided to leave the Woking-based team after just a single season.

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Ron Dennis admitted that he laughed while recalling the aforementioned conversation. The former McLaren boss found it intriguing to see how wrong Fernando Alonso was at that time. 

 It is something that I remember and I laugh, because it was there from the first moment and how wrong Fernando was.

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Ron Dennis admits Fernando Alonso was affected by Lewis Hamilton

The former McLaren boss affirmed that the Spanish driver didn’t think Hamilton could be competitive in his debut season. Moreover, Alonso was confident that Dennis’ decision to sign the rookie would cost McLaren the Constructors’ championship. The 76-year-old mentioned that Fernando Alonso was calculating all variables for the season. However, the two-time world champion missed one possibility.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso (Via PlanetF1)

Ron Dennis pointed out that Alonso was affected greatly by Hamilton on track. The British driver managed to exceed expectations and came close to clinching the world title in his rookie season. This took a massive toll on the two-time world champion who would go on to claim that Dennis was on the side of his teammate.

Fernando was calculating everything, but not that Lewis would challenge him, that affected him a lot.

McLaren was on course to win the 2007 Constructors’ Championship. However, the Woking-based team was disqualified due to the infamous ‘Spygate’ scandal. Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton surprised the entire racing world in his debut season against Fernando Alonso. Hamilton would go on to win the 2008 F1 title and later win six more with Mercedes.

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