Fernando Alonso has expressed his desire to reunite with Lewis Hamilton as teammates in Formula 1, despite their rocky relationship during their previous stint together.
Hamilton made his debut in F1 with McLaren and shared the team with Alonso, who had just switched over from Renault where he had won two consecutive championships and gained the reputation of being the best driver on the grid.
Despite their differences, Hamilton did not back down from the challenge and the two finished the season with the same number of points.
However, their disagreements both on and off the track resulted in Alonso’s departure from McLaren after just one year, leaving the team with lasting scars.
Hamilton and Alonso, now in their later years and having gained more experience, are both striving for one final taste of F1 victory before retiring from their illustrious careers. Surprisingly, Alonso seems to have the upper hand in pursuing the championship title at present. Since the implementation of new car regulations last season, Mercedes has lost its momentum, and Aston Martin has emerged as a prominent contender, which works in the Spaniard’s favor.
At the age of 41, Alonso achieved a podium finish in the first two races of the season, positioning himself as the closest challenger to the dominant Red Bulls this year. Despite having Lance Stroll, the team owner’s son, as his partner, Alonso yearns to reunite with Hamilton.
“It would be nice to end our careers together. I’d love that, ” he said when asked about the prospect of working with Hamilton.
He went on to declare that he is more than happy to put past differences aside if such a situation were to arise.
“We had a difficult season, 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, former McLaren team principal] said after the penultimate race in China, ‘Our race isn’t with [Felipe] Massa, it’s with Fernando’. When your team says that, you cannot continue. But you learn in a career.”