Former McLaren star sides against Lewis Hamilton in famous feud: 'Fernando Alonso had it 100% won'

A former McLaren racer has had his say on the feud between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, specifically concerning their battle at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix.

Pedro de la Rosa was the test driver at McLaren during the fateful 2007 season, and watched from the sidelines as Hamilton and Alonso's rivalry sparked into an all-out feud in their only season spent as team-mates.

Alonso had joined McLaren off the back of two world championship titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 and, when he was pitted up against rookie Hamilton for 2007, Alonso thought that he would be the outright number one driver.

But heading into the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that season, Hamilton was sat at the top of the drivers' championship, two points ahead of Alonso.

Hamilton started the race from second, with Alonso on pole, and immediately protected his team-mate's lead into the first corner.

Alonso and Hamilton then ran away with the race, both overlapping all cars apart from third-placed Felipe Massa, but Hamilton felt like he was catching Alonso at times, and wanted to try and overtake the Spaniard.

Hamilton complained after the race that team orders had prevented him from challenging for the race win, and that sparked an FIA investigation into McLaren's conduct, with Hamilton probed in the aftermath of the event.

Now, De la Rosa has revealed that Hamilton had no need to be upset, with Alonso clearly in control of the grand prix, claiming that any time Hamilton got closer to the Spaniard was because Alonso was having to manage his pace.

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Hamilton vs Alonso Monaco 2007

"In Monaco 2007... that race was 100 per cent Fernando's," De la Rosa told Mundo Deportivo. "I mean, Fernando got pole, he pulled away, Hamilton was behind, I think he had some graining, I mean, there was no contest.

"But in the end, Fernando slowed down, mainly because we had a problem with the brake callipers overheating, which is quite common on a circuit where there aren't any straights to cool them down, and Fernando, in the last part of the race, was doing lift and coast, because it's on the telemetry, I mean, I'm not making this up.

"From then on, of course, Hamilton thought he was catching him, Fernando was like, 'Hey, I'm just calmly managing things,' and that's where the misunderstanding happened, because Fernando had the race in the bag, 100 per cent."

After reviewing radio traffic, team data, and the FIA observer’s report, the FIA cleared McLaren of any wrongdoing after the 2007 Monaco GP.

They ruled that McLaren's strategy was 'entirely legitimate', and that telling drivers to maintain their positions to avoid technical risks or collisions when holding a substantial lead was standard procedure.

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