Alonso offered the chance to swap seats with Hamilton at Mercedes 2 yrs ago
Fernando Alonso has sensationally claimed he was offered the chance to swap seats with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes two years ago.
The double champion, then at Ferrari, claimed he was offered the chance to move to the Silver Arrows while Britain’s ace racer would move in the other direction to Maranello.
But the Machiavellian Spaniard was vague about who exactly made the offer.
And he added: “I don’t know if Hamilton knew about it.”
Alonso, now at McLaren-Honda, was talking about the summer of 2014 when Hamilton was in the throes of his first title campaign with Mercedes while he was headed for an acrimonious exit from Italy.
At the time, the paddock regularly buzzed with speculation an Alonso/Mercedes deal was in the air. Asked on Tuesday at Barcelona testing whether the rumours were true, he said: “Yes, the offer was there.
“The circumstances meant it came up but Ferrari didn’t want it at that point.”
And with Nico Rosberg’s contract in its final year there is no surprise he has bought it up again.
More F1 news
U.S. Grand Prix F1 race has new hope with lower tax bill
Hopes are increasing that the embattled U.S. Grand Prix will in fact take place in October.
Currently, the popular Austin race is marked as “subject to confirmation” on the 2016 Formula One calendar, after the Texas government reduced its annual contribution to the race fee from $25 million to less than $20 million.
But F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told Forbes at the weekend: “I think Austin will happen this year.
Severe scorch marks on the Ferrari
TJ13 - Looks very reminiscent to a certain RB10 in 2014?
Red Bull runs on electric only power
Red Bull switch to stealth mode 😉 #F1Testing https://t.co/3EOOnBKSNU
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Re Alonso, whether true or not, you hit the nail on the head with your last sentence!
‘And with Nico Rosberg’s contract in its final year there is no surprise he has bought it up again.’
vintage Alonso….. plays the media like a fiddle
You are right. As they say, he is a wily old fox.
But for him to say what he said, in public, then there is truth to it, which begs the question, why would Mercedes be ok to swap Hamilton for Alonso?
As we all know,Lewis is a moaner, petulant even, always complaining in public when things don’t go his way. I guess Mercedes would not mind getting rid of the little git.
Alonso can be just as bad, though he keeps his behaviour behind the scenes, he’s a crafty operator not above a spot of blackmail allegedly. He only speaks in public when he wants to send a message or likes causing a bit of mischief with the journalists. In this case I think it’s Alonso telling McLaren Honda to get a shift on, otherwise he’s off. Alonso hasn’t really been in the right place at the right time in recent years when it’s come to having a car that’s dominate and thus capable of winning both championships.
I expect Mercedes will either resign Rosberg or replace him with Pascal Wehrlein (depending how he does at Manor) or another wonderkid (Verstappen maybe).
“Alonso keeps his behaviour behind the scenes”……
I’m sorry, but which Alonso are you talking about
Yea he’ll be off alright, into retirement
He also said he turned downy the move to Mercedes to go to McLaren.
The one that is cold and calculating.
Alonso will likely keep on racing outside of F1 aka aim to win Le Mans.
I walked past Alonso in Oxford many years ago (pre title wins), he looked quite bored walking around with several women, who I assumed were models, seemed he’d rather be in a racing car. I never did spot Eddie Jordan in Oxford with his terrible shirts.
You forgot to say…
He’s a 3 times WDC ‘little git’…
Cry me a river, ohhhh cry me a river….
“Moaner/petulant who complains in public when things don’t go his way”….
You’ve just pretty much described every driver in F1. That lines has gotten so boring now, time to develop something new.
Au contraire, mon copain – it’s time to wind up the level of loathing again, as Melbourne FP1 is but 16 days away 😉
Who said I wound down over the winter?..😉…😂😂
Still a petulant little git.
Still a petulant little git
“You’ve just pretty much described every driver in F1”
Well, except ma’ man, Jenson, that is…
(if you don’t count some “massive understeer” )
Ok, forget i said anything…
The not-so-elegant hole in the side of the Ferrari looks like the aftermath of a laryngectomy to me. All those years of deep drawing on tobacco money have finally caught up with them 😉
It looks like Alonso is angling to replace Rosberg next year. Hamilton and Alonso, probably the two best drivers on the grid, in the same team….didn’t go so well last time.
Not when they’ve got Pascal bedding in at Manor, who’s younger and a hellava lot cheaper.
Ehm Verstappen?
Nope, Pascal and they’ve also got another young talent on their books that just as if not better than Max, in young Ocon.
well, they both seem to have become publicly gushy about each others abilities, so maybe both would be up for a rematch.
I still take the view the problem for Alonso last time around was the team (ie Dennis), not Hamilton. It would be very interesting to see how the ‘older and wiser’ Alonso would handle it, well, we can but dream.
Alonso maintained that the issue was Ron Dennis – probably not favoring him over Hanilton the rookie – and it’s true they both speak well of one another, especially when it was convenient to slag Vettel’s dominance. I don’t think there would be as much moaning over Mercedes’ dominance if Hamilton and Alonso shared the Benz.
Totally agree,then we would value a bit more Lewis’ WC.s. But as it stands he’s had it far too easy last couple of years.
Bernie will eventually get his way and liven up F1 somehow … if it’s not with “different” or “customer friendly” engines, it will be through putting the best drivers up against each other. Kimi is past it and Nico never got there!
Alonso and Hamilton reunited at Merc (Nico to McLaren?)
Ricciardo and Fingerboy reunited at Ferrari (someone MUST make way at season’s end for RB’s vunderkind Verstappen to graduate to the Big Boys Team)
At least then we’d see some great old fashioned, street-fighting styled racing between 4 drivers at the front of the field who absolutely refuse to back off for anyone. Fans would like it, Bernie would love it and so would the FIA. Especially if these two teams keep up this mind-numbingly boring status quo at the pointy end of the field and McLaren, Renault & RBR can’t make any ground-breaking improvements.