Fernando Alonso points out key difference between McLaren in 2007 compared to now with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton fought for the 2007 F1 title as teammates, which resulted in Kimi Raikkonen taking the title by one point. With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fighting for the title in 2025, the Spaniard came out and pointed out the key difference in how McLaren is handling the situation now in comparison to 2007.

Lewis Hamilton was the new hotshot on the scene in 2007, joining McLaren with two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso as his teammate. The two drivers had some high moments during the season, including some questionable decisions made by the Woking-based team.

The fight between the two, and the team's management of the drivers, led to Kimi Raikkonen winning the title while Alonso and Hamilton finished one point behind him, tied on points. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been trading blows since the start of the season, and following the Briton's victory in Mexico, he leads the title fight by one point.

However, Max Verstappen has been on a roll and has cut down the championship gap, which was over 100 points before the Dutch GP, down to just 36 points. Amid this, questions have been raised on whether a situation like 2007 is possibl,e where the Papaya team's management of the drivers and the title might cause them to lose the driver's championship.

As Fernando Alonso arrived in Brazil for the fourth-to-last race of the season, he was questioned about the same, to which he pointed out a key difference between the 2007 McLaren and the current team. He said,

“I remember Ron [Dennis] saying in China, 'our race was against Fernando[Alonso], not against Kimi [Raikkonen]'. The situation is very different. So imagine that Zak says now: ‘our race was with Oscar, not Max’. So a very different scenario.”

Former McLaren CEO Ron Dennis signed Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and the driver management eventually led to Fernando Alonso leaving the team after the 2007 season. McLaren doesn't have a great history when it comes to its driver fighting for the title. Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna during the late 80s & Alonso vs Hamilton are examples of the same.

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Fernando Alonso suggests his overtake on Lewis Hamilton in 2023 proves he's “still strong”

Fernando Alonso won his two F1 titles with Renault in 2005 & 2006. Since then, the Spaniard has had some close calls, but never won the title. After a poor stint with McLaren in the late 2010s, Alonso took a sabbatical from the sport before returning again with Alpine.

However, after his second year with Alpine, where Esteban Ocon beat him, many raised questions on whether the Spaniard still had the same level of performance that he did back in the day.

Fernando Alonso made a move on Lewis Hamilton at the 2023 Bahrain GP which is considered one of his best overtakes, on par with the overtake he made on Michael Schumacher at Suzuka. When questioned if the Bahrain move was his best overtake of the career, he replied,

“I can’t say no. It was like ‘I didn’t lose what I had,’ a punch on the table. It showed a lot of people that I was still strong.”

As he joined Aston Martin for 2023, he proved to everyone that he still had the magic, scoring multiple podiums throughout the season and challenging Max Verstappen for pole position on rare occasions.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi