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THE rivalry between McLaren’s formula one drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso reached such a pitch that the Spanish world champion threatened to reveal damaging data obtained illegally from Ferrari to the sport’s governing body unless he was made the team’s official number one driver, it has been alleged.
During the row, which occurred five weeks ago at the Hungarian grand prix, Alonso was reported by witnesses to have told the McLaren team principal Ron Dennis: “Either make me No 1 or let me go,” and threatened to take the Ferrari information to sport’s governing body, the FIA.
A McLaren source said Dennis called Alonso’s bluff and told him he should go ahead. Dennis then telephoned FIA president Max Mosley to warn him that Alonso might be in touch.
In the event Alonso retracted the threat and the allegation was never formally made by the Spanish driver, so Dennis shouldered the responsibility for confirming to the governing body that his team had been in possession of the Ferrari data.
“I want to stress that once I became aware that new evidence might exist, which I did on the morning of the Hungarian grand prix [August 5], I immediately phoned the FIA to keep them informed,” Dennis said.
Alonso denies the allegation, his manager Luis Garcia saying: “There is nothing in it.”
