Did Lewis Hamilton Trigger Fernando Alonso’s Career Decisions? Former McLaren Driver Speculates Over the Possibility

Moving teams is always a tricky business for a driver. More often than not, there is a question mark surrounding the future performance of the team. Former F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen believes that Alpine driver Fernando Alonso always missed the mark when it came to switching teams.

Alonso has spent over 2 decades in the sport now and is one of F1’s most decorated drivers.

Wrong moves for Fernando?

The 40-year-old has entered his 21st season as an F1 driver and is still going strong. The 2-time world champion has always been one of the best drivers on the grid regardless of the machinery. However, former McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen believes that the 2007 season alongside Lewis Hamilton played a major role in shaping Alonso’s career.

The Finn has the opinion that Fernando never made the right career move from that point on and that hampered his career.

In a recent interview with talkSPORT the former driver said “Since [Alonso’s] championship years with Renault he’s always made the wrong move and just sometimes I wonder if the trigger was the surprise of Hamilton’s speed.” 

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He went on to add “then the falling out with [McLaren boss] Ron Dennis and with the team followed and there wasn’t any other place to go, Renault was kind of on a downward slope, he was just playing catch up after that and that never really recovered.”

How is Fernando Alonso keeping up with the new regulations?

Fernando Alonso has had somewhat of a mixed start to the season under the new regulations. The positives are that Alpine look quick, however, Fernando has had very little to show for their pace. The French team put up solid performances in the first 2 races of the season but have been marred by bad luck and reliability issues.

The first race saw a poor strategy call lead to him picking up a P9, when he had the pace for more. The second race in Jeddah saw him retire with issues in his car’s water pump.

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He currently stands P13 in the driver standings, 12 points behind his teammate Esteban Ocon who is in 6th. With Australia up on the calendar next, will Alonso’s fortune change? Let us know your predictions for the Australian GP in the comments below.