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McLaren History-2007
By Tim Ingroville July 15 2008
2007 was an epic year for McLaren. The Woking based team ended there winless drought in style with Fernando Alonso taking the win and Lewis Hamilton 2nd making it a 1-2 a result which hadn’t been seen in a long time for McLaren. The team went on to win 8 races between both drivers with Rookie Hamilton taking his first one in Canada following an amazing drive.

The Drivers:

 First Driver: Double World Champion Fernando Alonso 

Second Driver: Rising star and GP2 ace Lewis Hamilton  

The nature of the pairing ment they were the youngest line up ever recorded for a team. A paring said to be a force to be reckoned with. McLaren hoped both drivers could bring success back to the team.   

The Launch: 

Date: 15/01/2007

Car: MP4-22

Tyre: Bridgestone

Engine: Mercedes 2.4 V8

The launch saw the birth of the MP4-22 and to mark the event Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton drove MP4-21s through the street of Valencia which was followed by the unveiling of the MP4-22. It was described as sleek by the fans and McLaren pinned there hopes that it could challenge for the title.  

The Racing: 

Mostly it could be said that it was a pretty successful year for the team with 8 wins and 14 other podium appearances and a car that could finish reliably and consistently which the team had failed to produce over the last few years. The first race victory went to Fernando Alonso in Malaysia finishing +17.5 secs a drift from his team mate making it the teams first 1-2 since Brazil 2005.  Lewis Hamilton took his first victory in Canada becoming the youngest person to ever win a race and joined the ranks of F1 drivers who won a race in there first season.

 The Oncoming Storm: 

Relationships with team mates and teams in general can be tough sometimes but Fernando Alonso wasn’t happy with either of these and gradually we saw the truth. The media constantly stirred up the relationships between Fernando and Lewis and Fernando and the team. The relationship hanged by a thread for most of the year with the first indication it was braking showing up in Indianapolis where Hamilton was leading Alonso and Fernando just couldn’t make a pass anywhere.

Alonso finally decided to swerve violently going past the pit lane indicating that the team should do something to allow him to get past which they couldn’t do because there ethos is equality to drivers and no Number 1 status.  The second indication came in Hungary in much dire situations. Fernando Alonso decided that he would try and destroy Hamilton’s opportunity to go out for a faster lap by staying in the pit box for as long as possible. This didn’t go well with the team and was the final blow for Alonso. McLaren decided that they would release Alonso from his 2 year contract at the end of the season on the grounds that there relationship simply wouldn’t work.  

The Politics: 

Sadly politics over shadowed this exciting season with Nigel Stepney a Ferrari employee being found guilty of handing over Ferrari documents to McLarens Mike Coughlan. The case went on for months until it was sadly agreed by the courts that McLaren be found guilty to be within possession of confidential documents and were then on stripped of all constructor points according to the International Sporting Code. This meant that all the teams efforts to win the constructor title were wasted and the only glory they could have is winning the drivers title.  

The Results: 

The title went right down to the wire in Brazil with a 3 driver tie and only 1 could win. It was close but Kimi Raikkonen took the title with our very own Hamilton finishing runner up dead level on points with team mate Alonso in 3rd.  

Conclusion: 

The year was full of things McLaren didn’t need but the team pushed hard and broke there winless streak. If anything they can come away from this season knowing the car was quick and reliable and hope to continue on to next year to have another crack.

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