17 years ago, the clash between Hamilton and Alonso in Hungary

Among the many rivalries between teammates in Formula 1, the one who divided the clan McLaren in 2007 will have made history despite its short duration. However, it was the Hungarian Grand Prix, 11th of the 17 rounds run that season, which marked the most tense episode of this confrontation.

Put into context: Fernando Alonso, outgoing double world champion, is faced with Lewis Hamilton, an already tenacious and very fast rookie. Following several controversies such as that which occurred during the Monaco Grand Prix – where the Briton was forced to slow down to allow the Spaniard, victim of mechanical problems, to secure victory in the interest of the team – the Hungarian weekend begins in a context already filled with animosity.

Arriving at hungaroring, Lewis Hamilton (70 dots) is championship leader ahead of Fernando Alonso (68 dots). The two pilots Ferrari are a little further down the rankings, with Felipe Massa (59 dots) ahead Whom Raikkönen (52 dots). The Hungarian meeting also takes place in the context of the affair of spygate, which had arisen a few weeks earlier, when the FIA ​​suspected McLaren of possessing confidential documents belonging to the Prancing Horse.

The clock is ticking…

The most controversial event of this weekend which was full of them began in qualifying, while the fight for pole position raged between the McLarens, more comfortable on this track compared to the Ferraris. When Alonso returns to the pits to change tires, his mechanics stop him for a long time, just to have the best timing to return to the track. But the latter, although invited to leave by his lollipop man, rest about ten more seconds on its location before taking off, finally. 

An event that wouldn't have been worth taking on... if his teammate wasn't waiting behind! Blocked by the native of Oviedo in his box then as the time seemed threatening, Lewis Hamilton could not cross the finish line in time to complete a final fast lap, and was forced to lose by less than a tenth at the checkered flag.

The FIA, having to react to the controversy, will ask both parties to justify themselves. If the Woking formation recalls traffic management, Alonso for his part explains the additional ten seconds of stopping by the fact that he was worried about the tires on his car. The Spaniard also defends himself by arguing that there was nothing illegal about this maneuver, which, in fact, is correct.

In no way satisfied by these explanations, and in a context already very tense because of Spygate, the governing body of motorsport grants five penalty places on the starting grid to the Bull of Asturias, while it will be even more severe with McLaren, by depriving him of any possible points scored during the event.

Alonso blocks Hamilton in the pits in qualifying ©Gilles Levent /DDPI

Alonso's blackmail

The next day, according to information relayed by the with the BBC, an altercation between Alonso and Ron Dennis, director of McLaren, allegedly took place before the start of the race, with the Spaniard threatening to reveal potentially incriminating emails linked to the affair of spygate. In exchange for his silence, the double world champion reportedly demanded that McLaren deliberately make Hamilton run out of fuel, which he said would have been fair reparation for the harm caused by the penalty imposed the day before.

Dennis does not take this into account, and during the Grand Prix then of the Grand Prix, the British rookie will only be briefly worried by Raikkönen, before achieving victory. Fernando Alonso will take the checkered flag 4th, and will meet the British leader shortly after to negotiate his departure from the team, without knowing that he would return there after his divorce from Ferrari in 2015.

© DPPI

Regarding the matter of spygateMax Mosley, then president of the FIA, would later declare that he was already aware of the emails at the time ou Alonso made his threats. The British media revealed in 2018 that the Spaniard had communicated the existence of this evidence to Flavio Briatore (director of Renault), who had itself told Bernie Ecclestone (great financier of F1), before the latter told it to Mosley. McLaren will therefore be found guilty, le team British will pay a fine of 100 million euros in addition to his disqualification from the championship.

Still in the running for the Drivers' title after the Hungarian round, neither of the two McLaren drivers won the title that year. It is Whom Raikkönen, yet at the lagging behind in the rankings after the Hungarian Grand Prix, around twenty lengths behind, who won in Brazil, ahead of Hamilton and Alonso by a small point to take the world crown.

16 years later...

A few days ago, the pilot Aston Martin spoke about this incidents in new remarks relayed by the with the BBC. The Spaniard explained that he regretted that no one had ever been interested in his version of the facts.

“I have never held anyone in the stands, supports Alonso, They gave me some used tires during qualifying, so I didn't leave straight away.

There is a transcript of the commissioners' decision, where it says that they imposed a penalty on me on an article that did not exist. They simply gave me a penalty but clarified that it was not for an infraction of any article. 

It must also be said that it was my team which protested against me, which is a first in the history of sport, he then quips. Formula 1 is about that sort of thing, you have to play a character whatever role you're given."he concludes.

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