Formula 1 News

McLaren: Hamilton hoping for new teammate next year 

Lewis Hamilton admitted he does not want Fernando Alonso as his teammate next year, telling his McLaren team that he now has no doubts he wants to see out his career with them. Hamilton’s relationship with Alonso has come under strain following the Spaniard’s lack of support for McLaren over the spy controversy and their first corner battle at the Belgian Grand Prix.

And amid increasing talk that Alonso will look for a way out of his McLaren deal at the end of the year, Hamilton has said he is now more convinced than ever that he wants to lead the team. Speaking to the British Sunday newspapers, Hamilton said he does not think he and Alonso can remain teammates in 2008. “No I don’t,” he said. “I mean, if the team want to keep him they keep him, but I’m here to stay as long as they want me. Any dreams that I have had about what I would like to be doing 10 years in the future have slightly changed…”

When asked to clarify that remark, Hamilton said: “About where you would want to be. “This season has helped reconfirm in my mind where I want to be, where I want to live out my career, and that is here. I’m really happy and comfortable here. So long as they want me, there’s no reason to move anywhere else. It’s up to the team. They’ve got to be smart and think about it: I know they’ve got politics and sponsors and all that sort of stuff, but they’ve got to do what’s right and I’m sure they will. I don’t know who else would slip in here, but I’d much rather it were Fernando in a Ferrari and me in a McLaren.”

McLaren boss Ron Dennis has made it clear that no consideration about the team’s future driver plans will be made until after the current season has finished. “We have contracts with both of our drivers that are for the next several years,” he said. “We are focused on the next three races and contractual relationships will only be discussed after the last race. There is at this stage, nobody engaged in any dialogue whatsoever. It’s all speculation. There are people who want to destabilise the team or defocus the drivers. We’re not wasting our energy on these things.”