Briatore warned Alonso back in 2007: “Lewis Hamilton is protected by Dennis”
Flavio Briatore, former boss of Benetton and Renault teams, was hosted on the F1 podcast "Beyond the Grid" where, among other topics he talked about, he highlighted his previous concerns about Fernando Alonso's move to McLaren in 2007.
Flavio Briatore's boldness lead the Renault team to two Formula One titles with Fernando Alonso driving, before the latter signed with McLaren in 2007, at the time managed by Ron Dennis.
According to the Italian entrepreneur, Fernado had several problems within the English team since his teammate during the time, Lewis Hamilton, has already established himself in the F1 world.
"He went to McLaren and this I was not happy [with] because this was not Schumi to go to Ferrari. This was Fernando to go to McLaren, and for Fernando, McLaren was never in [his] dream." he stated.
"Especially I tell him: you have the new guy, and the new guy was Lewis Hamilton, and the new guy is in the pocket of Ron Dennis, like you with me! And I promise you, you [will] have the fighting and the guy is protected by Ron Dennis."
Fernando was aware of the situation he was in, but nevertheless he convinced himself that he was much faster than his teammate.
Briatore expressed the concerns he had about him and especially about the change.
"[...]The point is nobody including Ron Dennis understood how quick was Lewis Hamilton."
"Because if Ron Dennis understands how quick was Hamilton, he [would] not spend the amount of money he paid Fernando. If I know in my house I have a driver so quick, why do I need another one? And it was a big fight."
The relationship between the team principal of the English team and Alonso wasn’t the best and, Briatore, confirmed it.
"Ron Dennis did everything by himself." he said.
"I just watched. I know what happened. After two races when you see the change of tyres was done first by Hamilton and second by Alonso it was enough, because I knew Fernando."
After the news of Alonso's possible return to Formula 1, Flavio briatore affirmed: "100%. He is a rottweiler. 100%."
"We will see. I don't know. A lot of contracts expire and people move up and down, so we will see."
"I would like to see Fernando in one team that has 50% of the possibility where you start the race to win the race. [But] it's not so many [teams]. You have Mercedes, you have Ferrari, you have Red Bull."
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