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McLaren supremo Ron Dennis said Thursday that Lewis Hamilton played a role in the implosion that shook the team in 2007.
Dennis talked to the medias during a press conference that to announce the team 2015 driver line-up which means a surprising return for Fernando Alonso.
Alonso left the team in spectacular fashion seven years ago after the proud Spaniard went head-to-head with a then rookie Hamilton and the British team became entangled in the famous Coughlan/Stepney spygate scandal.
“If you go back to that period, you look at the chemistry and we had Lewis, a young guy, understandably perceived by many people as the chosen one, but also someone who had immaturity,” Dennis said about Lewis Hamilton.
“If you go on the ‘who struck the first blow' route, actually I would say that Lewis had his role to play in starting this process which escalated.”
Ron Dennis is confident a similar confrontation will not happen again with Alonso and Jenson Button.
“By and large those challenges that you have between drivers - and I had them in previous championships with Alain [Prost] and Ayrton [Senna] several times - we've always managed to be able to diffuse,” Dennis explained.
“But this one got away from me and I look back on my contribution to that with exactly the same emotion that Fernando expressed, which is you regret the mistakes you make in your life and sometimes you can't change what's happened”.
Dennis talked to the medias during a press conference that to announce the team 2015 driver line-up which means a surprising return for Fernando Alonso.
Alonso left the team in spectacular fashion seven years ago after the proud Spaniard went head-to-head with a then rookie Hamilton and the British team became entangled in the famous Coughlan/Stepney spygate scandal.
“If you go back to that period, you look at the chemistry and we had Lewis, a young guy, understandably perceived by many people as the chosen one, but also someone who had immaturity,” Dennis said about Lewis Hamilton.
“If you go on the ‘who struck the first blow' route, actually I would say that Lewis had his role to play in starting this process which escalated.”
Ron Dennis is confident a similar confrontation will not happen again with Alonso and Jenson Button.
“By and large those challenges that you have between drivers - and I had them in previous championships with Alain [Prost] and Ayrton [Senna] several times - we've always managed to be able to diffuse,” Dennis explained.
“But this one got away from me and I look back on my contribution to that with exactly the same emotion that Fernando expressed, which is you regret the mistakes you make in your life and sometimes you can't change what's happened”.