Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had a heated rivalry during their time as teammates at McLaren.
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso always stays at the center of the news. During the 2007 season too, the Spaniard was at the center of an immense battle with Lewis Hamilton.
The 41-year-old will be joining forces with Aston Martin for the 2023 season. Now, a Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley has come out to reveal how Alonso would use “tactics” to win over members of the team.
During the 2007 season, Lewis Hamilton was just a rookie in his first season at the pinnacle of Motorsports. On the other hand, Fernando Alonso was already a two-time world champion. Both the drivers would go on to win four races of the season before finishing on equal points in the Drivers’ standings.
Both drivers would come tantalizingly close to claiming the championship. However, would lose out to Kimi Raikkonen by just 1 point. It all came down at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix when Alonso deliberately stopped in the pits to deny his teammate a final run in qualifying.
Priestley reveals Alonso’s ‘tactics’
Priestley worked closely alongside Alonso during the 2007 season. He has now indicated that there was some “bribery” at play.
“One of Fernando’s tactics is to try and bring the whole team over to his side of the garage,”
he told the Pitstop podcast.
“Although Fernando’s manager, or his trainer, is handing out little brown envelopes stuffed with cash to everybody who wasn’t on Lewis car.
“We all got these little brown envelopes. Since I remember opening up the envelope… [there was] like 1,500 euros or something…”
Although this claim can be called controversial. However Fernando himself revealed in 2020 that he used to share his bonus price with members of the team.
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