sport news Fernando Alonso says reuniting with Lewis Hamilton would be perfect trends now
In contrast to the 1,000-yard stares of Formula One’s foot soldiers battling jet lag Down Under stands the jaunty air of Fernando Alonso climbing closer to the top of his world.
The Spaniard is 41, the oldest performer on the grid, but he feels 30. He is defying the ageing process not only sustained by an enduring talent that places him among the finest drivers in history but by the competitiveness of the Aston Martin in which he suddenly finds himself.
Yes, Red Bull may be favourites for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, and most others on current form, but the Silverstone-based, green-liveried Astons are the next best. And Alonso dreams of another world title to go with his two from 2005 and 2006 with Renault. No driver on the grid now was racing back then.
He is just one of the two golden oldies going for a final prize. Aged 38, Lewis Hamilton is the other, aiming for his eighth title, but he is in a Mercedes further off the pace and perhaps feeling unsettled. So would Fernando welcome his old sparring partner Lewis to the team?
‘It would be nice to end our careers together,’ says Alonso, despite currently partnering the owner’s son, Lance Stroll. ‘I’d love that.’
Fernando Alonso (right) and Lewis Hamilton (left) struggled to gel at McLaren back in 2007
Alonso moved to McLaren from Renault as a two-time champion, teaming up with Hamilton in what was his rookie season in Formula One - both pictured at the Australian Grand Prix in 2007
Really? They hardly gelled last time, in Hamilton’s rookie season at McLaren in 2007. The Hamilton retinue sat one side of the team hospitality area amid the hostilities, Alonso’s on the other, in a dispute flamed by the fuel of the Spygate scandal. In British eyes, Alonso was Dick Dastardly, plotting in Spanish against innocent young Lewis.
They finished level on points, Hamilton edging the contest by dint of more victories. Alonso left the team in high dudgeon and never won a title again. Hamilton clinched his first championship at McLaren the following year, then struck gold at Mercedes.
Is there not too much bad blood for them to be reconciled? ‘We had a difficult season,’ reflects Alonso, sitting in the Melbourne paddock ahead of qualifying due to have taken place this morning. ‘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. The situation that season was not well-managed by our bosses. 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.
‘I couldn’t continue with McLaren. It was a team with eyes totally one side of the garage. As Ron (Dennis, team principal) said after the penultimate race in China, “Our race isn’t with (Ferrari’s Felipe) Massa, it is with Fernando”. When your team says that, you cannot continue. But you learn in a career.’
