Lewis Hamilton has revealed how a fight for fuel parity with Fernando Alonso during their tumultuous season together at McLaren proved to be an early turning point in his stellar F1 career.
In 2007, Hamilton and Alonso formed an eye-catching partnership, with the British rookie purported to be a star of the future, and the Spanish driver joining the team after winning back-to-back titles with Renault the previous two years.
Alonso believed he deserved number one status given his record, whilst Hamilton did everything to prove he was worthy of equal status, as was the case in the lead up to the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.
The race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve proved to be a watershed moment for the then 22-year-old.
Explaining why it was so important in his career, speaking to the media, including ApexF1News, the seven-time F1 champion said: “It was only my sixth race in Formula 1, and I think there were a couple of bits about it.
“One, first time coming to Montréal, a track that I’d watched on TV and enjoyed watching over the years. I’d got to Formula 1, and being a rookie to a world champion was tough, with Fernando so talented and so fast.
“But I’m so competitive, so rather than thinking, ‘I’m a rookie, just be happy finishing second’, I could never accept it.
“I’d always want to be pushing myself, to be competing. I wanted to win, and that was an overpowering feeling.
“I remember the first five races. Naturally, in the fuel area, they [McLaren] would always give Fernando the lighter fuel load, separating the cars by two laps.
“It always felt to me that I had to work twice as hard, if not more, because Fernando was so quick. I always had to be at least a tenth quicker than him or more, a tenth and a bit, to be able to be ahead of him.
“I pushed so hard to get equal fuel. I was like, ‘Just give me the chance, and I’ll show you what I can do’.
“So they gave us equal fuel in this race. I qualified on pole, and I won. And they did it for this one and Indianapolis afterwards.
“It was a real special moment for me because I fought for something I truly believed in, and when they gave us the opportunity, I affirmed that belief. And then the rest was history.”
In Montréal, Hamilton finished four-tenths of a second quicker than Alonso in qualifying, and won the race by 4.343s to BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, with Alonso 22 seconds adrift in seventh.
