Hamilton/Alonso “would have brought so many championships to McLaren”

Pedro de la Rosa believes that the 2007 pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso “would have brought so many championships to McLaren” over the years had the rivalry not exploded, and that they were "possibly the strongest pairing" the sport has seen.

13 years ago McLaren’s Ron Dennis opted to promote youngster Hamilton to drive alongside new signing Alonso, who had just won back to back World Championships with Renault in 2005/2006.

A partnership that only lasted a season as tensions grew within the team that saw both finish on 109 points, one behind Ferrari’s championship winner Kimi Raikkonen.

Hungary became one of the biggest points of the tense rivalry as the Spaniard held up the Briton in the pitlane during qualifying to prevent him for taking pole.

But de la Rosa, who was test driver for McLaren that year, was surprised at the explosion of the rivalry but feels they were the strongest pairing Formula 1 has seen.

"I was surprised how it all exploded," he said in F1's latest 'Beyond the Grid' podcast.
 
"If we look back, that driver pairing is possibly the strongest there’s ever been. Ever."

Hamilton/Alonso wasn’t the only fierce pairing the Woking-based team had fielded, having previously seen Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost alongside each other.

"Yeah… I always think the new generations are stronger," he said.

"So it’s nothing against Senna/Prost, they’re my heroes, forever heroes, but that level – Fernando/Lewis – was amazing.

"I remember looking at their data and thinking, ‘these guys are from a different planet’.

“And still, I was not expecting for the relationship to explode. It was a shame because those guys would have brought so many championships to McLaren."

Despite the tension at the team and rivalvy between the two de la Rosa states that there was always a level of respect bwetween the two.

"They always respected each other massively at the track because they knew how good the other was, although they never said it publicly, they had a lot of respect for each other," de la Rosa added.

"There was nothing wrong ever done at the racetrack between them. It was always a strong fight but fair."