Do a search on either of these drivers and one will be bombarded with opinions, edits and blogs all over the internet about the recent problems and how the drivers have been reacting to it. I'd like to stay away from those topics and try to look at some other areas which is normally not highlighted. Alonso came to McLaren hoping to become it's blue eyed boy, a reasonable wish one could say for a double world champion. McLaren signed him at the end of his first world championship itself, this is a point to note. The Spainard would have been surprised to see a more democratic atmosphere where the team doesn't pamper one driver over another in terms of resources available and personnel.
McLaren has a policy of equality between drivers and this would certainly have come as a shock to Alonso. Ron Dennis is a good man, he's got a balanced outlook and keep his team well organized not to speak of his excellent talent in drawing sponsors to his team. But if there's one area he's lacking in then it's the lack of bravado on the track. He's not the boss on can drink a beer with, he's more understated and likes to talk less (apart from ronspeak which is a legend unto itself). Apart from Mika Hakkinen, we've never seen Ron hug a driver on Parc Ferme or even backslap the driver. This bond could be unique and can be linked to the devastating crash Mika had in Australia which took him out of action for a couple of months and impaired hearing on one side.
It also can be attributed to Mika's receptive nature, despite being a good driver and a hard man at swallowing pressure, Mika's lost his composure a couple of time, the most notable being Monza 1999 where a wrong shift of gear took Mika into the gravel throwing away his race lead where he bitterly sobbed in the sides of the race track. But overall Mika proved to be a man of character, he was the gentleman on the grid and was even branded unfit towards the end of his F1 tenure being branded 'too-good' for the race track. But even then Mika set the records straight by demonstrating excellent car control and capability in 2001, case in point - Silverstone and Indianopolis.
Back to Alonso now. McLaren needs Alonso as much as Alonso needs McLaren. There aren't too many options for the double world champion. The only place that would look like a promotion is Ferrari but Italians and Spainards are not good bedfellows. Alonso will not go from McLaren, I'm sticking my neck out on this one. Simply because the McLaren car this year is a rock solid package, it has completed every race it has started and except for just two failures during qualifying - Alonso's engine block and Hamilton's tyre, the car has performed incredibly well. I'm doubly sure that the research and development effort of McLaren is immensely being benefitted by Alonso's experience.
Alonso's experience on the track on various cars the best of them being the Renault is a testimony to the fact that he know a hell a lot about setting them up. McLaren's engineers could be benefitting immensely from this aspect of his relationship and this could be indirectly benefitting Hamilton too who is a rookie in F1 and surely wouldn't be able to fine tune the setup at the level he currently is in. Alonso also gives some Spanish sponsors visibility the most notable being Santander, his departure could raise questions on that.
Hamilton on the other hand has been a revelation. He's the classic case of being too sweet to spit and too bitter to swallow - a catch 22[only in the context of the Hungarian GP, Lewis's behaviour has been impeccable in all other races]. Ron Dennis would certainly not expected his protege to do so well in his debut. That is where the hitch lies in. Compare Hamilton's pay with Alonso and he should be grumbling inside at the disparity. The fact that he other is a double world champion means nothing to the rookie. As far as he can see, he's outperforming the champion in every race and qualifying session and he demands to be equalled in all aspects - sponsors, technicians, resources, money.
Hamilton is an incredibly straight and talented driver too. He's got the thirst to win every race he starts in and he doesn't seem to pound the car in the circuit like a JP Montoya. He knows his limits when pushing and knows when he needs to back off and simply complete the race. Nobody expected Hamilton to do so well, let's face it that's the answer to the problems McLaren is facing. Ron was not prepared otherwise he'd have found out better ways to synergize the two and get them focussed. Remember when Mika rejoined racing after the accident David was the guy with more experience and chances to win but Mika ended up being double world champion and the Mika/David combination went all the way till 2001 till Mika bid goodbye to Formula1.
This is the longest serving pair of drivers in the history of Formula 1 no doubts about it and neither Mika nor David nor Ron have shown scorn or disgust at the team like we've seen recently. That says that no matter how much you accuse Ron Dennis of not being able to communicate clearly he's done some things in fact a lot of things right in this case. Let's give the man some credit when it's due, Prost and Senna were like petrol, they can fire up anytime. Mika and David were competing against each other but not at the cost of the team. Mika's first Formula1 victory in Jerez is a testimony to the gentleman that David Coulthard is.
The three week break before the Turkish GP is bound to heal some of the wounds and will get the two drivers back to talking terms. Unless the FIA decides to play spoilsport, which increasingly looks like a possibility looking at Ferrari's media interactions, McLaren are going to finish this season right on top. At the end of the year anything can happen and I'd be very glad if the developments end up making a seat vacant for Nick Heidfeld to fit in, until then let's just enjoy the spectacle one race at a time. Over to the Turkish grand prix of 2007.
