Fernando Alonso’s ex-engineer reveals how Lewis Hamilton’s camp caused trouble at McLaren in 2007

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Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were involved in one of the most bitter teammate rivalries in recent Formula 1 history in 2007. McLaren gave it just one season before they pulled the plug.

Alonso arrived at McLaren as the reigning, double world champion, while Hamilton was a rookie after winning the GP2 title. On the face of it, there would be a de facto number one and number two.

Indeed, Alonso was earning £12m per year, while Hamilton was on just £350k.

But generational talent Hamilton was immediately on Alonso’s level and the two drivers couldn’t be separated over the course of the season. They ultimately finished level on points, with their quarrel opening the door for Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to make F1’s greatest ever comeback and snatch the championship.

The most notable incident came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, when Alonso remained in his pit box to prevent Hamilton, directly behind, from setting another lap at the end of qualifying. He received a five-place grid penalty for the move.

Mark Slade says Lewis Hamilton’s role in Fernando Alonso fallout isn’t talked about

Speaking on Peter Windsor’s YouTube channel, Mark Slade, who was Alonso’s engineer at the time, suggested that the Spaniard is overly criticised for the events 18 years ago.

While Alonso clearly resorted to gamesmanship at times, he was fundamentally a ‘good guy’. Ultimately, he just ‘didn’t fit’ at McLaren, though he did return to the team in 2015.

Slade says the role of Hamilton and his father, Anthony, in causing the dispute is underestimated. The McLaren academy graduate stayed until the end of 2012, winning the 2008 championship.

“I really liked Fernando and I liked working with him,” Slade said. “He was a nice guy to work with. Yeah, he did play the game a little bit, but he was a good guy. He wasn’t a nasty person.

“Some of the stuff that went on was started by the Lewis camp – Lewis and his dad – and some of the things they did. It just shows that Fernando didn’t fit at McLaren. It just got worse and worse after that, certainly after Monaco.”

The Monaco race Slade mentions saw Alonso take victory ahead of Hamilton after the youngster was told to hold station in second. The FIA investigated whether this was a breach of the ban on team orders, but cleared the Woking outfit of wrongdoing.

McLaren threatened to sack staff after they received gift from Fernando Alonso

In the same interview, Slade revealed that Alonso once gave his McLaren crew a thousand euros each in an envelope. This kind of gift had been allowed during his time at Renault.

But then-sporting director Dave Ryan was furious, demanding that the staff involved return the money, otherwise they could be fired. Alonso was then told ‘never to do it again’.

Slade recalled: “He appeared at the back of the garage with a bunch of envelopes, and then he said, ‘At Renault, I used to like to share in my winnings with my guys, it’s not something I’ve done at McLaren so far, but I’d just like to show my appreciation for you doing such a job’.

“We opened these envelopes, and I think there was a thousand euros in each envelope. We were gobsmacked. We thought, ‘Blimey, that’s a bit strange, that’s never happened before’. We just said, ‘That’s really kind, thanks very much’.

• READ MORE: How McLaren staff privately reacted when Fernando Alonso was unveiled alongside Lewis Hamilton in 2006

“A little while later, Dave Ryan came into the motorhome with a face of thunder. He said, ‘You’ve got to give all the money to me, to the team. It’s completely outrageous, you can’t have that in this team’.

“He basically said, ‘Anyone who doesn’t hand their money back is going to get sacked’. I believe the envelopes were given back to Fernando and he was told never to do it again.

“I didn’t feel that it was [Fernando trying to buy allegiance from his mechanics]. I think that was a normal thing back in the day. I gather it was true that at Renault, he had given his guys stuff.”

Slade engineered Alonso’s replacement Heikki Kovalainen before joining Renault in 2010. He subsequently had stints at Mercedes, Lotus and Haas.