Lewis Hamilton will never be ‘best friends’ with 22-pole position F1 rival due to personality clash

Lewis Hamilton has been on the Formula 1 grid for 17 years and come across dozens of drivers in that time.

Having only driven for McLaren and Mercedes – thus far – Hamilton has only been teammates with a handful of drivers.

Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were fantastic teammates at Mercedes, helping the team win several Constructors’ Championships, while the seven-time world champion and Nico Rosberg clashed right up until the moment the German won his only title and immediately retired.

Hamilton sent Bottas a message after losing his Sauber seat, highlighting that he still looks out for the Finn on the grid.

However, his relationships with other drivers on the grid isn’t quite as positive.

Max Verstappen and Hamilton clashed during the 2021 season that went down to the wire.

Hamilton was gracious when Verstappen won his fourth title this year, recognising the Dutchman’s obvious talent as he clung onto his championship lead without having the fastest car.

Writing on the BBC Sport website, journalist Andrew Benson believes there’s still a driver on the grid Hamilton isn’t completely comfortable with.

Lewis Hamilton will never be ‘best friends’ with Fernando Alonso after their time at McLaren

Hamilton’s first teammate in Formula 1 was Fernando Alonso at McLaren.

Alonso arrived at the team having won back-to-back championships with Renault, while Hamilton was their up and coming protege who had just won the GP2 title.

Hamilton and Alonso immediately clased in 2007, leading to both drivers narrowly missing out on winning the championship after a miraculous recovery from Kimi Raikkonen.

Benson wrote in his report that Hamilton and Alonso’s problem that year wasn’t with each other, but with how the situation was managed.

He goes on to say that their relationship ‘has not changed’ much in the past few years, but admits that ‘they are never going to be best friends’.

Alonso and Hamilton’s characters clash and they have very different views of the world, according to Benson.

In an interview with BBC Sport in 2022, Hamilton said of Alonso: “We’re much, much different people and with much different values.”

Lewis Hamilton heads to Ferrari to try and achieve what Fernando Alonso couldn’t

Hamilton’s 18th F1 season will be spent in new surroundings as he achieves a lifelong dream of racing for Ferrari.

The Scuderia narrowly missed out on ending a 16-year drought without a Constructors’ Championship, while they haven’t won a driver’s title since 2007.

Alonso – who has 22 pole positions to his name – came closest to ending that run, finishing second on three occasions to Sebastian Vettel in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

Ferrari staff have apologised to Alonso in the past for not delivering a car that was quick enough to challenge Vettel when he was arguably at the peak of his career.

Hamilton has been negative about his qualifying ability recently but will be buoyed by Ferrari’s performance in 2024.

He will know that if he can win his intra-team battle with Charles Leclerc next season, he could end up end up achieving that unprecedented eighth championship.