Alonso should have been aware that Dennis was going to favour his protégé when push came to shove, even though Alonso was being paid the bigger bucks. To cut a long story short, Alonso had a battle on his hands just to stay the course with Hamilton, let alone beat him. He was up against the best-prepared rookie in F1 history.
The championship lead see-sawed between them, with Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa also in the mix, ready to pounce should the battling teammates trip up. Which they did in Hungary. Alonso was deemed by the FIA to have deliberately held up Hamilton during qualifying by staying too long in the pits, meaning Hamilton didn't get out in time to take pole position away from Alonso.
The champion was demoted five places on the grid, and Hamilton from pole won the race. A McLaren statement read: "The process of managing two such exceptional talents as Fernando and Lewis is made more challenging by having a race-winning car. We do not believe that the findings of the stewards and the severe penalty imposed on the team was appropriate. Every effort was made by the team to maintain our policy of equality. However, in the heat of the battle, there are occasions when the competitive nature of drivers sees them deviate from the agreed procedures."
The season unravelled further when Alonso gave evidence at an FIA inquiry that McLaren had used intellectual property given to a McLaren mechanic by a disgruntled Ferrari employee. McLaren was fined $100 million.
The drums were beating for Alonso to leave McLaren, which he did, moving back to Renault for 2008t. The two McLaren drivers both had four race wins but finished one point behind Raikkonen in the championship, which remains the last championship Ferrari has won, while 2006 remains Alonso's last championship.
But Hamilton, who had a long-term McLaren contract, won the championship with McLaren in 2008 and stayed with the team until 2013, when he joined Mercedes, and won six of his seven titles with them from 2014 through to 2020. His only championship loss in that period was to his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, in 2016.
By that stage, the former friends had completely fallen out, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff began to understand what Dennis had gone through in 2007, trying to manage the egos and ambitions of Hamilton and Alonso.
Verstappen has now won the championship for the past two seasons, although the first title last year remains controversial. Sky Sport commentator Ted Kravitz made several references to Hamilton being "robbed" of that championship at the US Grand Prix, based on FIA race director Michael Masi stretching the rules by allowing only five cars to unlap themselves after a safety-car period, so Verstappen was in a position to overtake Hamilton on that last lap with fresher tyres, which he did. Verstappen took exception to the inference from Kravitz that he had "robbed" Hamilton of the title, when in fact it had nothing to do with Red Bull.
He thus boycotted talking to Sky Sport in Mexico, a decision that the Red Bull team supported.
Alonso beat a drum on Twitter at the USGP, which wasn't music to Hamilton fans: "I think Verstappen's titles are more valuable than what Hamilton has achieved, I have a lot of respect for Lewis, but it's different when you only race with your teammate and win seven titles," he posted.
The claim caused quite a commotion with Hamilton's fans and F1 pundits, so a few hours later, Alonso stopped banging the drum, with a retracted post. "And again… Please, all the titles are amazing, well-deserved and inspiring. Incomparable to each other and let's enjoy champions and legends of our current time. Tired of the continuous search for headlines. Let's enjoy them."
There was a reaction to Alonso's first post from Toto Wolff.
"He's a hothead. He creates headlines, and this sport is all about headlines," Wolff said.
"They are both great champions Alonso is like that, but I don't think he's upsetting Lewis one millimetre."
Hamilton's reaction was to state: "I don't really have a lot to say about it. It does make me giggle a little, to be honest, but I have tried to be really respectful over the years, for example when you've ever asked me who's been the best driver against me, I've given praise. Hamilton then posted a photo from 2007 of him standing above Alonso on the podium, with a thumbs-up emoji symbol.
Verstappen has avoided the "who is the more valued champion" debate and has downplayed the significance of setting a new record for wins in a season, in Mexico, by winning his 14th race.
"I was never really interested in stats," he said. "I just live for the moment, I just try to, of course, do the best I can every single weekend. I try to win the races and that, for me, is the most important. Every single weekend when I go home and I can say to myself I maximised, or close to that, I'm happy."
"But of course, a lot in Formula 1 depends on your whole package and I'm just enjoying the moment and I'm not that interested in keeping in touch with every stat."
If he was, for now, his stats are closer to Alonso's than Hamilton's. He has 34 wins from 161 starts, while Alonso has 32 wins, but from 353 starts, which is a record for races started. Alonso has 22 pole positions, compared to 19 for Verstappen. But Alonso is 41 years old, while Verstappen is only 25, so plenty of years to improve his numbers if he stays in the sport.
Hamilton's stats, on the other hand, are miles ahead of Alonso and Verstappen, with the record number of 103 race wins and 103 pole positions, plus seven titles compared to two apiece for Alonso and Verstappen. But Alonso's perhaps clumsy comparison to the quality of titles won by Verstappen, as opposed to Hamilton, was really about having to
beat someone other than your teammate to win. Hamilton has never experienced that, given the dominance of the Mercedes car, whereas last year Verstappen had to beat Hamilton who was driving for the dominant Mercedes team. This year Verstappen's closest rival is his teammate, Sergio Perez.
Alonso is a frustrated driver, given his reaction when suffering a Renault engine failure in Mexico when running in seventh place. He gestured angrily when getting out of his stricken Alpine car, and then buried his head in his hands. It was shades of his 2007 season but, more especially, his second stint with McLaren from 2015 to 2019 when his teammate initially was Jenson Button.
Time for another Alonso drum roll: "The engine is not capable of finishing races. It cannot be bad luck if you have to change six or seven engines, as we have, and we still can't finish races," he said, knowing next year he is with Aston Martin and a Mercedes engine. "So, I think they will need to work hard this winter," he added.
Button commented on Alonso's dilemma as part of the Sky Sport team.
"It's tough to see from a driver of his calibre having all these issues when he's still driving at his best at 41 years old, Button commented.
"He's such a talent still, Fernando. He's got so much passion and so much love for this sport, as you see from his emotion. I'm sure he's hoping next year he can find a package that's more reliable, first of all, and then he can sprinkle a bit of fairy dust, which I'm sure he will, to make the {Aston Martin) car competitive."
There will be tension in the Alpine garage for this weekend's Brazilian GP, but with seven points separating Alpine and McLaren in the battle for 4th place in the championship, Alpine will need Alonso and Esteban Ocon to play the team game if they are to stay ahead of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren.
They might hear the drums, Fernando. Hamilton meanwhile is still seeking a first victory of a season, while another Verstappen win will add to his impressive stats, but you'd believe him if he says adding to his record probably won't interest him, rather the win itself will.
- Sources: F1.com, Sky Sports F1.
