Fernando Alonso recalls 2007 ‘anti-Fernando’ car during Lewis Hamilton rivalry

Fernando Alonso has reflected on his one-year stint as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at McLaren in 2007.

Alonso joined McLaren in 2007 as a two-time world champion.

McLaren would put him alongside highly-rated rookie Hamilton, who had just won the GP2 series title.

In what proved to be an explosive season - and rivalry - the pair fought for the 2007 title.

In the end, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen came out on top, beating Hamilton and Alonso by one point in the final standings.

The Hamilton-Alonso partnership is widely regarded as F1’s strongest teammate pairing, alongside Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

Their intense rivalry has remained over the years, with Alonso not afraid to have a dig in the media at Hamilton’s expense.

Alonso reflects on 2007

Alonso made the switch to McLaren after back-to-back F1 title wins at Renault.

His Renault wins came during the ‘tyre war’ era.

Back then, F1 had two tyre suppliers - Michelin and Bridgestone.

Renault and McLaren ran on Michelin, while Ferrari were on Bridgestone.

Bridgestone then became F1’s sole tyre supplier from 2007 to 2010.

Alonso’s lack of experience on the Bridgestone tyres and the drastic change in driving style required to get the most out of them is one of the theories behind why Hamilton was so competitive.

In an interview with AS, Alonso said: “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.”