“The pace of Lewis very pleasantly surprised us all. He had a preparation for F1 way ahead of its time. We got to Melbourne and he was quick. Fernando was quick.
“I thought, ‘Oh, blimey, this is gonna be a tussle!’”
After four races Alonso had one race win, in Malaysia, but the rookie Hamilton led the championship by two points from the Spaniard. Alonso was keen to reassert himself in the title battle.
“We get to Monaco, and have the drivers running 1-2, with Fernando leading and Lewis second after the final pitstop,” says Hallam.
“The deal was: everybody turns the engines down, just go to the end and that’s the finishing order. So I told Fernando on the radio to reduce power.”
Hamilton however had already had his temper piqued. After being bottled up in second in the early stages, he’d been on course to over-cut Alonso and claim the lead. McLaren saw the danger and potential team recriminations ahead, and reacted by bringing him in early.
The young Brit had a point to prove by sidling up behind Alonso once more – leading to the team boss getting involved to take executive action.
Hamilton puts Alonso under pressure at Monaco, much to the latter’s displeasure
Getty Images
“Fernando did as I said, but Lewis came right up to the back of him, so in retaliation the former turned it back up again, and gapped him a little bit.
“Fernando said to me ‘I’ll turn mine down when he turns his down.’ Ron then told Lewis’s team to reduce his power, and I think he then actually got on the radio himself.”
Eventually the drivers acquiesced, much to Hallam’s relief, and brought home the 1-2 in a much more fraught manner than McLaren anticipated. One of F1’s most bitter rivalries was just getting started.
