Fernando Alonso explains why he had ‘anti-Fernando car’ alongside Lewis Hamilton at McLaren

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Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were, in many ways, the opposite of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at McLaren. The only similarity is that both partnerships raced for the same team.

Piastri and Norris have been involved in one of the healthiest intra-team title rivalries F1 has ever seen this season. They have both respected team orders, and there’s no indication that the two have fallen out.

But 18 years ago, when GP2 champion Hamilton and reigning F1 champion Alonso formed a brand-new partnership at McLaren, there was tumult. The atmosphere became so toxic that it opened the door for Kimi Raikkonen to mount F1’s greatest comeback and snatch the drivers’ title.

The most controversial incident of all came in Hungary, where Alonso remained stationary in the pit box, with Hamilton directly behind, to jeopardise his rival’s qualifying hopes. He received a grid penalty for the incident, which confirmed that the relationship was broken.

Fernando Alonso says 2007 Bridgestone tyre change ‘suddenly’ helped Lewis Hamilton

Speaking to AS in an interview that was published on Friday, Alonso revisited the 2007 season. He came within a point of winning three straight drivers’ titles, but he hasn’t got that close since.

One of the reasons Alonso felt that a rookie Hamilton could match him was the tyres. 2006 was the last of the ‘tyre war’ years involving Bridgestone and Michelin.

The former became F1’s sole supplier for ’07, handing Hamilton the advantage because he’d used their compounds in GP2. Alonso, on the other hand, had become accustomed to Michelin rubber at previous team Renault.

Alonso says it took ‘years’ before he learned how to properly warm up the tyres, but he refuses to make ‘excuses’.

“There probably were [cars that didn’t suit my driving style], but it’s a useless excuse,” he said. “You have to adapt because cars change and rules change.

“Without going any further, right after the end of the second world championship, I had an ‘anti-Fernando’ car in 2007. The tyres were Bridgestone, which were the same ones used in GP2 at the time, so all the drivers who moved up from GP2 suddenly had very good performance.

“Nowadays, there’s a lot of talk about the preparation lap for Pirelli tyres, but even back then, there was a very different way of warming them up, and it was a completely unknown subject. I suffered from it for a few years, but it is what it is.”

How Lewis Hamilton found himself in Fernando Alonso’s shoes at Ferrari

According to former McLaren man Jo Ramirez, Alonso was paid £12m per year when he moved to Woking. Hamilton was only on £350k.

But despite the difference in salaries, Hamilton was so rapid from the outset that he commanded equal status. Alonso felt the team were rooting for a driver who had been part of their academy since the late 1990s.

Now, Eric Boullier says Hamilton is in the same position as Alonso at Ferrari. Charles Leclerc has made the team his own since arriving in 2019.

Like Hamilton at McLaren, Leclerc came through the academy and became a race winner. While there are no tangible signs of preferential treatment under Fred Vasseur, that emotional connection does hold a value.