A former McLaren mechanic tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Alonso/Hamilton cohabitation

It’s a season we won’t soon forget! Undecided until the end, the 2007 season saw Kimi Räikkönen crowned world champion with Ferrari, under the noses of its competitors. While on the other side, at McLaren, the war of egos raged within the garage, between a Fernando Alonso, two-time reigning world champion, and a young beginner in F1, Lewis Hamilton. It is also a former mechanic of the team, Marc Priestley, who returned in his podcast, “Pitlane Life Lessons” on the tumultuous relationship between the two drivers, and the heavy atmosphere that reigned within the team.

“Mechanics and engineers fought to work in Fernando’s garage”

The arrival in F1 of the seven-time world champion was not easy for the main person concerned, nor even for those around him for that matter. No one could stand in the way of the young British driver's quest for success and recognition, not even a reigning two-time world champion. It was also at the end of this season, completed by Räikkönen's title at Ferrari, that Fernando Alonso immediately returned to Renault, failing to find his happiness and his place at McLaren, facing the young Hamilton.

“In 2007, Fernando had just won the world championship and his teammate was going to be Lewis Hamilton, who was a rookie and had never raced in Formula 1 before, shares Marc Priestley in his latest podcast. A kid who was, of course, promising and was going to be fast and maybe a star in the future, but Fernando was the star of the moment, with the big number 1 on his car. He was the champion.

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McLaren has never written anything about the status of numbers 1 and 2 in a contract, but I have no doubt that when it came to speaking to Fernando Alonso there was a feeling, an expectation from all sides that Fernando was going to be the de facto number 1, that he would be the man to lead this team, they expected big things from him and if they were in a position to win a world championship, of course, that Fernando would be best placed to lead this battle.

Along the way, young Lewis Hamilton would be there to face the consequences, to take a helping hand, to learn from the best,” he added.

“I have no doubt that the communications between Ron Dennis and Fernando's team, although it was never said, were that Fernando would receive preferential treatment and be the number one driver. I'm sure these things have never been said or written anywhere. We all thought this was going to happen. »

But yet, quickly, the competition in the paddock and on the track raged between the two drivers. Lewis Hamilton even took the reigns of the championship thanks to impressive consistency – he reached the podium in his first 9 races with McLaren – before winning for the first time in his career in Canada, and putting a slight pressure on Alonso's shoulders. And yet, at the start of the season, few in the team would have bet a kopeck on the Briton.

“Mechanics and engineers fought to work in Fernando's garage, remembers Marc Priestley. People didn't want to work on Hamilton's car because they didn't expect much from him.

McLaren could have avoided many fights by simply expressing how things were rather than assuming everyone knew how things were. »

As a result of the races, the rift between the two drivers was quickly over. Tension rises within a team that Ron Dennis was used to managing masterfully, and Hamilton misses out on his first world title, scoring only two small points in the last two races. Räikkönen wins by just one point (110), ahead of Hamilton and Alonso, both tied with 109 points each. A historic season, which will lead to another the following year.