Alonso on incident with Hamilton: 'No-one heard my version'
F1 News
Fernando Alonso has looked back on an incident between him and Lewis Hamilton in an extensive interview with the BBC. In 2007, the two were teammates at the McLaren team, and during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the bomb seemed to explode within the team. Alonso wants his side of the incident after 16 years.
Incident between Alonso and Hamilton in Hungary in 2007
During the famous qualifying session at the Hungaroring in 2007, Alonso appeared to deliberately hold up his teammate Hamilton during a tyre change in Q3. In the end, too little time remained for Hamilton to attack the pole time, which Alonso held. After McLaren, Alonso's own team lodged a protest with the stewards, the Spaniard was moved back five places on the starting grid. It was the first time in Formula 1 history that a team lodged a protest against its own driver.
Alonso has always kept quiet about the incident but was willing to say something about it when speaking to the BBC. "2007, the Hungary thing. No one heard my version, the truth, or the facts," Alonso began his account. "I said that I never hold anyone. They [McLaren] just gave me old tyres when it was qualifying. Then there is also a radio transcript." The Spaniard does not elaborate on the content of the radio transcripts.
Alonso questions conduct of McLaren and stewards
He does question the stewards' decision and McLaren's conduct: "The decision from the stewards, where it is written that they put me a penalty on an article that didn't exist. They just put the penalty but clarified it was not for any article. And things like that. And it was my team putting a protest against myself, which is the first time in the history of the sport. So when you put all these kinds of things, and you don't see the facts. Obviously it is difficult to clarify some misunderstanding."