"We don’t need a kid in the car" - When 'rookie' Lewis Hamilton didn't impress veteran teammate Fernando Alonso at McLaren

Fernando Alonso was not too impressed with McLaren's decision to sign Lewis Hamilton as his teammate in 2007.

In a feature done by the BBC, Martin Whitmarsh, a former McLaren team principal, revealed that Alonso wanted a more experienced teammate alongside him, and Hamilton did not fit the bill.

Hamilton was very young at the time and dominated the GP2 series in 2006 to win the title. However, for McLaren to choose Hamilton was a departure from the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya, the experienced drivers who drove for the team in 2006.

In the BBC feature on Hamilton, Whitmarsh said:

“Fernando was, ‘Well, why are we doing that? If we’re going to try to win the championship, we don’t need a kid in the car; we need someone experienced. I need a strong teammate; we don’t need a rookie.’ But it turned out to be quite a different story.”

It did, however, turn out to be completely opposite as Alonso and Hamilton were neck and neck all season, with both falling short of the title, finishing a point behind Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.

The partnership was, however, so toxic that Alonso left McLaren at the end of the season, and the Woking-based squad would build the team around Hamilton.

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It all started to go wrong between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in Monaco

Martin Whitmarsh revealed that the relationship between Hamilton and Alonso started to go wrong in Monaco when Hamilton did not obey team orders and started to close up on Alonso towards the end of the race.

It was the spark that led to Alonso losing control in Hungary later that season and blocking Hamilton in the pitlane. Whitmarsh revealed:

“It started to go wrong there. Lewis should have on that occasion heeded the instructions of the team not to take excessive risk. But in fairness to him, he hadn’t had a win at that stage, and he was hungry to have one. If he had been the subservient instruction-obeyer, he wouldn’t be the Lewis Hamilton who’s won seven world championships, would he?”

Lewis Hamilton's debut season in F1 is considered one of the best in the history of the sport. He went toe to toe with some of the best talents in the world in his debut season and almost won the title.