Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s time at McLaren perfectly encapsulate a relationship between teammates in F1. Hamilton, the rookie, quickly challenged Alonso, the world champion. The relationship that went sour during their only year as teammates never really recovered. However, that could’ve changed had Alonso accepted the Mercedes offer back in 2017.

That’s right, Mercedes did offer a seat to Fernando Alonso after the shock retirement of Nico Rosberg. Despite the allure of the world championship-winning team, Alonso already had signed a contract with his former team McLaren. Additionally, the aggressive and competitive Spaniard would have never agreed to play second fiddle to Hamilton.

This is exactly what the Mercedes team wanted for the 2017 season, a driver like Valtteri Bottas who wouldn’t challenge Hamilton. Alonso was anything but a second driver in a team.

“I think they had a driver profile on a [Valtteri] Bottas or [Pascal] Wehrlein type, to satisfy the Mercedes hierarchy and not put too many obstacles in Hamilton’s way,” Alonso said to Cope’s ‘Partidazo’ program, as reported by Marca in 2017.

Alonso also revealed he got a call from the Mercedes boss for the seat, but he pledged his loyalties to McLaren. “I was no different. Toto Wolff asked and I told him that I had a contract with McLaren. I was happy here and I was not going to do anything crazy,” he revealed.

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Imagine a team with a two-time champion, Alonso, and a three-time champion, Hamilton, at the time. It could very well have been a repeat of their first stint as teammates. Especially with all the not-so-subtle jibes they take at each other still.

Lewis Hamilton reacts calmly to another jibe by Fernando Alonso

Alonso and Hamilton had plenty of on and off-track tiffs throughout the 2022 season. The most notable was the coming together in the opening lap of the Belgian GP.

However, the most notable off-track incident was when Alonso undermined Hamilton’s titles compared to Max Verstappen’s. Despite Alonso’s constant poking, Hamilton reacted very calmly.

When asked about it, he said, “I gave you [my reaction]. That’s my thumbs up.”

“I don’t really have a lot to say about it. It does make me giggle a little bit to be honest, but I have tried to be really respectful over the years.”

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Now imagine the same scenario if they were teammates at Mercedes. As things stand, we will see Alonso have a go at Hamilton again next year in his Aston Martin colors.