Hamilton/Alonso - Friends Again?

MajorDanby

Motorsports' answer to Eric the Eel
Contributor
Story courtesy of PlanetF1.com.
(http://www.planet-f1.com/news/3213/6245 ... ar-the-air)

After the latest chapter in the saga of Alonso and Hamilton, taking place at European GP in Valencia, the bitter rivalry between the two drivers seemed to have once again reared its ugly head.

After the anguish of McLaren, caused by the animosity of the two drivers in 2007, there seemed to have been little more to stay on the matter, until the rekindling of the row due to the Safety Car procedures in Valencia, stoking the fire that is clearly still light in both of the drivers bellies.

As most fans are aware, Alonso came out immediately in the press after the race questioning both Hamilton's, and the FIAs racing integrity. With a quick retort coming Lewis's lips a short time after.

"I saw him overtaken by a Sauber. He must have been completely in another world."
Hamilton added: "It's very unlike him to be overtaken by a Sauber."

As well as labelling the Alonso outburst as a case of "sour grapes".

Harsh words, that as well as rebuked the Spaniard, looked to further add fuel to flames. Damage that appears to have been minimised by Alonso and Ferraris desire to distance themselves from the comments of "race manipulation" made in the heat of the moment, immediately after the European GP.

In what looks like now, an attempt to further mend the bridges between the two, Hamilton has come out in the press stating that he has since been in contact with the 2 times WDC.

"I messaged him to see how he was doing. He said everything's cool, that he knows how the racing world works and this is a tough year"

Is this proof that the levels of animosity to the two has been blown out of all proportion by the media? That, although by no means the best of friends, there is a healthy measure of respect between the two world beating drivers? Or is this simply an effort to repair the images of both drivers by their respective PR departments?

One thing that is for sure, that although a healthy rivalry tends to benefit two competitors, and act to bring the best out of them, relationships such as the one 'enjoyed' between Hamilton and Alonso can rarely been seen to be beneficial. In fact, the most recent iteration between the two has lead to Alonso being accused of 'letting Hamilton into his head'.

Surely a cessation of hostilities between the two would be in the interest for fans of both camps, however, one can only think that it is not such a simple matter to plaster a crack that has grown and widened since Hamilton's inception into the world of F1. As such the sincerity of such remarks will only be questioned at every encounter between the two in further events, with each incident having the potential to break what remains a very fragile peace.
 
In my opinion, based on the reactions of both drivers last week, I think there is a very different feeling on each side.

Lewis is over 2007, he was bitterly disappointed not to win the title in his rookie year but at least he stopped Fernando from becoming a 3rd time WDC (in a row) and finished ahead of him. At the same time he established himself within F1 like no other driver has in recent times.

Fernando on the other hand is still extremely bitter over 2007 and leaving McLaren for 2 years back at Renault where he was just treading water waiting for a better seat.

As such, I think Lewis was slightly bemused and amused over Fernando's antics last week.
Fernando on the other hand will be even more annoyed with himself at so publicly "losing it".

Whatever niceties exist between the 2 drivers now are purely for show.

Definite shades of Prost & Senna between these 2.
 
There is no doubt in my mind that Lewis and Fernando are completely incompatible, however they have never loathed each other. They appear - to me at least - to have a healthy relationship built on respect, fear and distrust, typical ingredients any marriage! :friends:

Renault's Steve Nielsen has suggested that Fernando would have been wise to stay at McLaren:

In fact, I think - and I do not know if he agrees with me on this but he knows I love him - that return to us was probably a mistake. If I had been his manager at the time, I would have said: 'Listen, you have to do this, stay and beat this guy.'

He maintains that it would have made him stronger... :thinking: It may just as well have torn him to shreds. But it most likely was a case of not being able to deal with Ron, rather than any animosity towards or fear of Lewis that made him leave McLaren and a winning car.

We have seen numerous instances of Lewis and Fernando conversing and congratulating one another... and then there was the Suzuka drivers parade where Fernando got his driver to stop and give Lewis a lift. They were driven off together and appeared totally at ease with each other.
 
I don't know about this. But I do know that I very much like these sorts of quotes:

MajorDanby said:
"I saw him overtaken by a Sauber. He must have been completely in another world."
Hamilton added: "It's very unlike him to be overtaken by a Sauber."

LOL

Not very mature, not very adult, not likely to delight the sponsors or management. But very funny and very human. More please!
 
This thread is a good read, all the way through.
- And a particularly good call from Brogan as usual.

In my opinion, Alonso made the right decision to leave McLaren when he did.

Although this deprives him of the opportunity to ever demonstrate superiority within the same team (unless he does the unthinkable and makes a return!), it is equally true that leaving McLaren allowed him to avoid future shredding by his nemesis.

In spite of this, my belief is that Alonso holds nothing against Hamilton personally, and that when they are together; momentarily able to be free of F1's politics; they are genuinely able to 'get on'. The fact that they still have each other's personal phone numbers, and that they still use them, attests to this.

However, politics can and do frequently get in the way…
 
To be honest I always thought whatever animosity bewteen the pair was ridiculously overnlown by the press.
 
Incubus said:
To be honest I always thought whatever animosity bewteen the pair was ridiculously overnlown by the press.
Agree, I think the problems were between Alonso and Ron Dennis really. Just two people who didn't see eye to eye and it ended badly!
 
I largely agree with that.
I don't think the Hamilton/Alonso "issue" is anywhere near as bad as the tabloids and "fans" make out but at the same time I can't see them ever going out for a beer :D
 
I think it all started in Form 2b when they were both in F1 school. The story goes that their teacher Mr Dennis had asked Lewis to pick a book from the shelf for reading time and he picked Senna the official story. Little Fernando didn't like that book because he wanted something by James Allen so a punch up occurred which led to them both being sent to see the year head Mr Whiting.

Mr Whiting gave them both a detention and called their Dads in to speak to him at school. Because Mr Hamilton was on the board of governors he had his own parking space but Mr Alonso got their first and parked in it which infuriated Mr Hamilton so the dads had a punch up as well.

To top it all, during detention, Fernando and Lewis were told to tidy up the toy boxes but they couldn't do that without having an argument. Lewis threw his toys out of his box and tried to make Fernando pick them up. In return Fernando said he had seen Lewis with the answers to next weeks maths test and that he was going to tell on him. Another punch up occurred and Mr Mosley who was covering the detention class had to separate them again. They were both sent to see the headmaster Mr Ecclestone and told if they couldn't behave in the same class then one of them would have to be moved. Fernando went to form 2c and things seemed to calm down for a while.

Extract from - F1 School - A Teachers diary by Mr R Dennis.
 
cider_and_toast said:
I think it all started in Form 2b when they were both in F1 school. The story goes that their teacher Mr Dennis had asked Lewis to pick a book from the shelf for reading time and he picked Senna the official story. Little Fernando didn't like that book because he wanted something by James Allen so a punch up occurred which led to them both being sent to see the year head Mr Whiting.

Mr Whiting gave them both a detention and called their Dads in to speak to him at school. Because Mr Hamilton was on the board of governors he had his own parking space but Mr Alonso got their first and parked in it which infuriated Mr Hamilton so the dads had a punch up as well.

To top it all, during detention, Fernando and Lewis were told to tidy up the toy boxes but they couldn't do that without having an argument. Lewis threw his toys out of his box and tried to make Fernando pick them up. In return Fernando said he had seen Lewis with the answers to next weeks maths test and that he was going to tell on him. Another punch up occurred and Mr Mosley who was covering the detention class had to separate them again. They were both sent to see the headmaster Mr Ecclestone and told if they couldn't behave in the same class then one of them would have to be moved. Fernando went to form 2c and things seemed to calm down for a while.

Extract from - F1 School - A Teachers diary by Mr R Dennis.
Total classic ROFL
Brilliant! :snigger:
 
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