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.
2025 Formula 1 champion Lando Norris admitted that private messages and personal meetings with legends such as Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and four-time MotoGP champion Casey Stoner played an important role in the championship fight.
Norris has spoken about the support he has received ahead of the decisive stages of the season.
“I have received so many powerful words of encouragement, messages and speeches from incredible people who are world champions in a variety of sports, from Lewis, Seb and many more.
Many people don’t know that I communicate with Seb. Some, especially Casey Stoner, wrote me a quick message just when I needed it most: “Think about this, believe in yourself, do this, do that.” That really helped me get back on track.”
Norris’ title chances were in serious jeopardy following the recent rise of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. However, McLaren’s successful strategy in Abu Dhabi on the final stage of the season allowed the Briton to finish third at the Yas Marina Circuit and formalize the championship title.
An important component of success was the pilot’s psychological resilience. Norris made mistakes throughout the 2025 season that could have cost him the title, but he managed to withstand the pressure while his teammate Oscar Piastri succumbed to the pressure at key moments of the season.
Norris concluded: “When you win the championship by just two points, I’m sure that the faith and support of the people around me brought me these two points. That’s why I’m grateful to everyone, because sometimes you only need two points to win the championship.”
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.
McLaren pilot Oscar Piastri said that he was approaching the 2026 season with double motivation after winning his first Formula 1 championship and losing to his teammate Lando Norris.
While the Australian pilot completed the unsuccessful second half of the season in third place in the general classification, 13 points behind Norris, he gained a 34-point advantage after the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.
After the Dutch stage, it appeared that the situation was completely under Piastri’s control. But a crash in Azerbaijan, as well as a series of poor performances in Austin, Mexico City and Brazil, slowly destroyed his title ambitions.
As a result, although the Australian player regained the pace he showed at the beginning of the championship at the end of the season, he did not have enough distance to close the gap in the final stages in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
While McLaren attributes Piastri’s difficulties primarily to tracks with low grip, at other tracks the driver has traditionally looked much stronger.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on the title, Piastri gained valuable experience against Norris and Max Verstappen, giving him confidence ahead of attacking the title again in 2026.
“I’m just hungry and ready for it. Of course, I’m waiting for a few weeks to get some rest and not think about racing.”
However, many new things await us when we return to work; significant changes to cars and engines.
You never know how you’re going to start the season with such a big update to the rules, but I trust the people around me.
“Personally, he has a lot of confidence in me this season; I’m ready to use this experience in 2026, regardless of the 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.
Motorsports
MotoGP Ducati coach Gigi Dall’Igna: “Marc Marquez’s limitation was that he took risks that were unnecessary”
Gigi Dall’Igna He was one of the men who put his hand in the fire when he made the decision. Marc Marquez instead of Jorge Martin as a friend Pecco Bagnaia inside the box ducati official. But just one year later he was proven right. The Cervera native returned to the top of the motorcycling world with a landslide victory in the Desmosedici GP25.
Indeed, in recognition of this return to the top, DAZN released the documentary Volver, in which Ducati’s sports director reflects on the fact that Marc always pushes himself to the limit. Even when you don’t need to. And Dariña sees this as one of Marc Márquez’s few weaknesses thus far.
”His limitation is that he may take risks even when it is not necessary. If there had been a little more clarity, for example, some mistakes could have been avoided at some point,” Dall’Iña argued.
In this sense he also said: Marco RigamontiHe made his debut as a truck engineer for Marquez in 2025. For Italians, this exploration of boundaries is a trait that has brought them great success in the past.
“He always said this.I want to be remembered as someone who gave everything.. It shows on the track as he always pushes the bike to the maximum and always tries. He is not afraid to make decisions that go against the flow.. Moreover, he knows that if he makes a choice at the last moment that surprises the other drivers, it could give him an advantage,” Rigamonti said.
After becoming champion, Marquez was involved in an accident at the Indonesian Grand Prix and was forced to undergo surgery to recover from a shoulder blade injury. Just a few days ago, he was able to get back on a flat track motorcycle and is currently continuing to heal his right shoulder.
The goal, as Marc himself has reiterated both actively and passively, is to take part in the February test at Sepang. He doesn’t want to miss the start of the 2026 preseason.
Source: Mundo Deportivo
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
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