F1 engineer opens up about Alonso and Hamilton: 'Atmosphere was poor'

Fernando Alonso left for McLaren in 2007 to become Lewis Hamilton's teammate. Mark Slade worked as the Spaniard's engineer that year. The relationship between the two men was excellent, but the atmosphere within the team was not always good.

There were high hopes for the partnership between Alonso and McLaren. After two consecutive world titles with Renault, it was thought that the Spaniard could win his third title with the British team. However, no account was taken of newcomer Hamilton, who proved he could compete with Alonso. The two drivers ended the season with an equal number of points. The atmosphere between the two drivers deteriorated after several incidents during the season.

"The problems were more within the team, to be honest. The team atmosphere was pretty poor. I think a few things happened that exaggerated the problems that were there," Slade said in conversation with Motorlat. The engineer believes the team could have handled the situation between Alonso and Hamilton better.

Alonso could have won championship

Following the tension within the team, Alonso and McLaren decided to end the contract after just one season. The Spaniard returned to Renault and signed a two-year contract. "Really we just threw away the championship in 2007. I think if Fernando had been backed properly, we probably would have won the ’07 and ’08 championships. I never had a problem with Fernando himself. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him," said Kevin Magnussen's current engineer.