Motorsports
Mark Priestley: “Everyone wanted to work at Alonso’s McLaren and nobody at Hamilton”
Mark Priestley, a former McLaren chief engineer, sheds light on McLaren’s episodic 2007 and says that Fernando Alonso was the magnet for everyone on the Woking team, unlike then-newcomer Lewis Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso was Formula 1’s biggest star in 2007. He has just landed his big transfer to Woking as the new two-time world champion after winning his championship with Renault on equal terms against Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and Kimi McLaren Raikkonen.
For McLaren, placing young Lewis Hamilton alongside Fernando Alonso (replacing Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya) in 2007 was a logical step: Hamilton, already a super talent in the smaller categories, would gain the necessary experience from the Spaniard, it was clear that the English team had invested in Lewis for their future.
Nobody expected Hamilton to be so good from his very first year in Formula 1 without even gaining any experience. So the relationship between Alonso and Hamilton very soon began to derail – starting with the Monaco GP that year – and exploded with Hamilton’s maiden victory in Canada and reaching the finish of the Hungarian GP this summer. It was the beginning of the end.
A decade and a half later, Mark Priestley, McLaren Chief Engineer in 2007, gave a backstage version of things through his podcast staff: “The engineers competed with each other to select those for Fernando’s car. “Nobody wanted to be in Lewis Hamilton’s car that first year because they didn’t expect much from him.”
Priestley continued: “The engineers want the championship just as much as the drivers. And of course we had the best chance of winning it by working in the car of last year’s champion. Or at least we thought so. “Everyone at the factory had high expectations: once we realized we were building a fast car, we believed that Fernando would be the one to bring us the accolades.”
Until, of course, all of this was disproved within a few months. No one expected Hamilton to be so good, let alone “look the champion in the eye” from the moment he walked in. And between the two, a ruthless war of impressions and psychology broke out that even Ron Dennis, the team’s leader at the time, couldn’t handle.
“The two drivers deviated from the plan at times to secure team support for their own side of the garage. It was as if they wanted to step on their neighbor to climb. This happened on both sides of the garage in 2007″, Priestley continued.
“It happened for many reasons McLaren did a very poor job of dealing with the problem at the time. It was the first time in many years that we have experienced such a dynamic between our two drivers.
It was a very poor job managing the team members, not only the two riders but also the people around everyone who naturally leaned towards their own rider and so created this big gap at the core of the team. .
I would say that was the main reason why we couldn’t win the 2007 World Championship in a year where we had the car, the drivers and the right people on the team to do it. We lost it because as a team we weren’t as good as we could be, we weren’t all going in the same direction. We had this huge chaotic chasm in the middle of our garage.”concluded the British engineer.
Source: sport 24
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.
Thomas Berman, the younger brother of Haas Formula 1 team driver Oliver Berman, will officially take part in Italian Formula 4 and Euro 4 in the 2026 season.
Thomas will represent the VAR team colours.
The 16-year-old Briton spent last year in British Formula 4, where he scored one win and finished eighth in the final season standings.
But the ones that are considered the most prestigious and promising are the Italian and European Formula 4 championships. They are often chosen by young pilots for further career advancement. In addition, Thomas’ older brother Oliver Berman also competed in these series and became the Italian Formula 4 champion in 2021 with 11 wins.
Let us also remind you that Ukrainian Alexander Bondarev will compete in the same championships with the Prima Racing team in the 2026 season. The Ukrainian pilot does not hide his ambitions and has repeatedly expressed his intention to fight for the championship title.
Bondarev now participates in Middle East Formula 4 in preparation for the European leg of the season. After the first stage, he took first place in the general rankings and became the leader in the rankings.
Thomas Berman will compete in the Formula Winter Series as part of his preparations.
The competition between the current “four” promises to be extremely high, and the appearance of the younger brother of the Formula 1 pilot will only increase interest in the series.
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Source: Sport UA
Ruth Waterhouse is an author and sports journalist who writes for Sportish. She is known for her coverage of various sports events and her insightful analysis of sports-related news. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, she has become a respected voice in the sports community.
Former Ferrari boss Ross Brawn said the team was at a disadvantage due to the FIA’s changes to the rules.
The Scuderia was virtually unbeatable in the early 2000s. Michael Schumacher single-handedly won 48 of 85 races in the first half of the decade, while Rubens Barrichello added nine more victories.
In an interview with F1.com, Brown named the 2004 Ferrari car as his favorite. That year the team won not only three races but confidently won its sixth consecutive title in the Constructors’ Championship.
The legendary designer and strategist admitted that Ferrari was stopped after that due to changes in tire rules and that the team had become too dominant.
“Every year we put in extra effort and every year we did things a little better. That made the 2004 car, in my opinion, the best ever.”
“We were disappointed by the changes to the tire rules after that, but I think we did so well and had to be stopped somehow. This incredible car could not have been stopped any other way because everything worked so well for us.”
“Having lived on the other side of the fence ever since, I can understand Bernie’s frustration. [Экклстоуна, тогдашнего руководителя Формулы-1]Max [Мосли, тогдашнего президента FIA] and supporters. It was a shock when we didn’t win, not a shock when we won. “It was a very special car.”
Source: Sport UA
Ruth Waterhouse is an author and sports journalist who writes for Sportish. She is known for her coverage of various sports events and her insightful analysis of sports-related news. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, she has become a respected voice in the sports community.
Formula 1 is preparing to enter a new era of regulations. Starting from the 2026 season, the aerodynamics and power plants of the vehicles will change significantly. Many people are already calling these innovations the biggest in the history of the championship.
In addition, the physical parameters of the machines will also change. The cars will become smaller: 10 cm narrower, 20 cm shorter and also 32 kg lighter; minimum weight will drop to 768 kg.
However, reaching this new cap will be extremely difficult for most teams. New power plants include a significantly larger share of the electrical component – with the internal combustion engine the ratio will now be 50/50, which will make the unit heavier. From the new season, there will also be a rule requiring at least 55% of the vehicle area to be painted, and new active aerodynamic features with real-time mode switching will be introduced.
All of this increases the weight of the car, and teams will need to simultaneously work to increase efficiency, reliability and reduce the weight of the cars. Audi is reportedly already the first team to reach the minimum points mark. Earlier, information also appeared that the German manufacturer replaced the mechanism for switching active aerodynamic modes with an electronic one.
There have been recent reports that Alpin can also reach a minimum weight of 768 kg. Of course, the lower the mass, the faster the car. But the question remains whether this will compromise reliability in the early stages of the new regulation. We will learn the answer to this very soon.
Source: Sport UA
Ruth Waterhouse is an author and sports journalist who writes for Sportish. She is known for her coverage of various sports events and her insightful analysis of sports-related news. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, she has become a respected voice in the sports community.
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