Peace Talks For McLaren
24th August, 2007
McLaren team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have held peace talks, mediated by Ron Dennis, in a bid to settle their feud.
The two drivers, whose relationship has always been a bit rocky, fell out at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton began the feud when he ignored team orders to let Alonso pass him in the qualifying rounds. Alonso then retaliated by impending Hamilton’s exit out of the pit lane, which stripped him of pole and dropped him five places on the grid as punishment. Hamilton went on to win the race.
The drivers ended the week with a silent stand-off, which forced Ron Dennis to call a meeting in Turkey.
In a statement, McLaren said: “We discussed the events of Hungary with both drivers independently.”
“Fernando and Hamilton then met in the team hotel and have found a constructive way forward.”
"The drivers clearly understand the team's approach of providing them, to the best of our ability, with equality and the same opportunity of winning."
Ex McLaren driver David Coulthard, who spent 9 seasons with the team, has backed Dennis by saying:
“Ron is as experienced as any team principal to deal with what happened… I remember watching Prost and Senna, and I’m sure (feuds) happened with McLaren drivers before them.”
During the second qualifying session in Hungary, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa stopped suddenly in the pit lane after his team forgot to refuel his car. Coulthard used this bit of information to bait Massa, who was at the same press conference, by saying:
“How do we know Ferrari deliberately did not put fuel in Felipe’s Car?”
“Maybe that was a team decision to benefit Kimi (Raikkonen). How do you forget to put fuel in the car? No –one said anything about that.” Massa ended up finishing in 13th place after qualifying in 14th, and with an uncomfortable smile he said it was “a misunderstanding.” To which Coulthard replied:
“It’s a pretty fundamental misunderstanding. I think it’s a conspiracy to favour Kimi! Good luck!”
