Ex McLaren F1 Mechanic Talks About The Lewis Hamilton-Fernando Alonso Pit Lane Incident

Ex Mclaren F1 mechanic Marc Priestley, who is presently an F1 content creator on Youtube talked about his Mclaren days in a podcast. His status as a Formula 1 specialist comes from his experience at the McLaren F1 team. In those years he encountered, in addition to other things, the duel between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. A fight that arrived at the breaking point in fitting the bill for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Qualifying at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix was going without any major incident. Until McLaren F1 chose to pit in the two drivers for a set of new tires during the qualifying session. Alonso came in first and afterward intentionally halted in the pit path. With this move, he attempted to ensure that Hamilton, who was behind him, wouldn’t have sufficient opportunity to drive the fastest lap. This strategy succeeded and Alonso took pole position.

Ex McLaren F1 Mechanic Speaks

Ex Mclaren mechanic Marc Priestley was recently featured in a podcast by MotorMouth. Talking about the incident he said, “I was one of the people who tried to send him [Alonso] away. I was totally stunned. At the time we couldn’t put our finger on why he did it, but shortly afterward the penny dropped.”

He stated that the incident changed his perception of both the ex Mclaren drivers. He said, “What I remember most of all is that I lost all respect not only for him but for both drivers actually. They both had a part in this process.”

Additionally, he said that as a driver he feels that Alonso executed the move very precisely and he respects him as a great driver.

“I couldn’t help but have a lot of respect for the way he [Alonso] was able to estimate how long he had to stand still to drive another lap while forcing Hamilton out.”

Check out his Youtube channel here.