Reunion of Alonso and Hamilton as teammates? 'I would love that'

Fernando Alonso would love to finish his career as Lewis Hamilton's teammate. The Spaniard thinks the frustrations from their first period as teammates, at McLaren in 2007, are now far enough behind them that a new partnership would go a lot better.

To call the partnership between Alonso and Hamilton at McLaren "strained" would be an understatement. The two drivers regularly clashed together and frustrations in the team ran high. During qualifying for the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton refused to let Alonso ahead as instructed by the team, after which Alonso delayed Hamilton during a pit stop preventing Hamilton from setting a fast time. Tensions eventually ran so high that Alonso left McLaren after just one year despite his three-year contract. The explanation given was the "not ideal cooperation" between Alonso and the team.

That period is now 16 years in the past, and although now and then some glimmers of rivalry can still be seen between the two drivers, the real frustration of that time seems to have faded. Especially if it is up to Alonso. " It would be nice to end our careers together, I would love that," the Spaniard told the Daily Mail. "We had a difficult season, but we respected what the other was doing on track and still do. We each consider the other to be a talented driver and one of the toughest competitors we have ever met."

Blame for frustration lies with team management, according to Alonso

In the one year Alonso was at McLaren, the team was able to have a good run at the prizes. Although the title eventually went to Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari, Hamilton and Alonso were both just one point behind the Finn, with Ferrari driver Felipe Massa right behind. According to Alonso, the team did not handle that situation well at the time.

"We were young. We were immature. We were many of the things we are not now, and we needed help from the management that we didn’t get. It was a team with eyes totally on one side of the garage. As Ron Dennis [McLaren team principal at the time, red.] said after the penultimate race in China, 'Our race isn’t with Massa, it is with Fernando'. When your team says that, you cannot continue."