Lewis Hamilton recalls having to work ‘twice as hard’ to beat Fernando Alonso in rookie F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton has recalled his rookie Formula 1 campaign alongside Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007, noting how he had to work ‘twice as hard’ just to be on par with the two-time world champion.

With the F1 grid now in Montreal for the fifth round of the 2026 season, the seven-time world champion took a trip down memory lane upon his arrival at the site of his maiden Grand Prix victory.

Hamilton burst onto the scene in 2007 in emphatic fashion. He immediately asserted his dominance at the Woking-based F1 outfit at the season-opener that year, sending it around an experienced Alonso at turn one.

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A third-place finish in Melbourne was reinforced by a nine-race podium streak to open his career in the pinnacle of single-seater racing, a record that is unlikely to be topped by any rookie in the near future.

It’s no secret that Hamilton and Alonso shared a tumultuous relationship during their one-year stint as teammates that year. Despite the stark gap between Alonso and Hamilton’s salaries, both drivers ended the campaign with an identical points tally.

Kimi Raikkonen pipped them both by a single point at the season finale, with Alonso and Hamilton’s regular confrontations out on track being attributed as the reason why neither driver won the title that year.

• READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton was ‘really surprised’ by one thing Fernando Alonso did before his Formula 1 debut

Lewis Hamilton recalls rookie season alongside Fernando Alonso at McLaren

Hamilton’s 2007 season remains one of the, if not the, greatest rookie campaigns in F1 history. He quickly silenced critics who felt a drive at a top team was not deserved for him, but still faced issues within McLaren’s set-up.

During F1’s pre-event press conference for the Canadian Grand Prix, he recalled how difficult it was to go up against Alonso during a year in which the Spaniard was hoping to successfully defend his drivers’ title for the second consecutive season.

“I arrived in Formula 1 and going from rookie to world champion was tough, with Fernando’s immense talent and speed, but I’m so competitive that instead of thinking I was a rookie and should be happy just to finish second, I wanted to win,” he said, via SoyMotor.

He described the situation as “overwhelming” before delving into how hard he had to work due to McLaren’s favouring Alonso in the early stages of the season.

Of course, Alonso’s status as a two-time world champion meant that their priorities had to be in his favour, but it didn’t last long.

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

“In the first five races, they always let Fernando choose his fuel load,” he continued. “I felt I had to work twice as hard to catch up with Fernando, who was so fast.

“I needed to be a tenth of a second faster than him to stay ahead of him. I pushed so hard to get the same fuel load; I kept insisting, and they gave us the same load, and I took pole position and won the race, and then at Indianapolis, too.”