Hamilton's McLaren Monaco row vs Alonso tipped him for F1 legend status

In Canada, Lewis Hamilton reflected on his 2007 win for McLaren: "Obviously, my grand prix win [in 2007] was pretty epic," the 7-time world champion told media present at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

However, not at McLaren. At least until that very Grand Prix. "Because Fernando was the world champion, he’d always get the lighter fuel. I was often carrying at least a tenth of fuel every time we went into qualifying – until this race."

During the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix's post-race press conference, Hamilton made the reference to being the number 2 driver at the Woking-based team, then led by former team principal Ron Dennis, igniting what would be a season-long fight that would reach its breaking point at the Hungarian Grand Prix with Alonso stalling Hamilton's refuelling qualifying run to prevent the Briton from setting a last fast lap in qualifying which got the Spaniard penalised ahead of the race.

"I remember arguing after Monaco that I wanted equal opportunity and equal chance, and they gave us equal fuel," Hamilton added.

However, in 2025 the 7-time world champion didn't fair so well after he hit a groundhog during the race which reportedly set him back 20 points of downforce, which translates roughly into a half a second deficit. He's currently placed P7 in the drivers' standings behind teammate Charles Leclerc.