2007: When McLaren team mates tangled for wins and titles

40

McLaren has been down in the dumps for so many seasons recently that it's hard to remember how the squad once dominated the sport of Formula 1.

Back in 2007 the team hired Fernando Alonso to spearhead its campaign for a new championship trophy. They'd already clinched 11 drivers titles and eight constructors victories after more than four decades in the sport since being founded by the legendary Bruce McLaren.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis took a risk by promoting the team's long-time junior driver Lewis Hamilton into the second race seat - and right from the start, the youngster made waves. He was on the podium in his first race in Australia, and then took four consecutive runners-up positions before claiming his maiden victory in Canada, the first of what would prove to be four wins in his rookie season.

Alonso hadn't been expecting this sort of threat from within his own team. When Hamilton wouldn't back down and settle into a dutiful role as support driver, Alonso didn't take it well. The pair soon fell out as they battled for the title.

The 2007 Italian Grand Prix which was held on September 9 was one of the pivotal moments of the year. Hamilton held a five point lead over Alonso in the drivers standings while McLaren were 11 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors.

Alonso took pole position in qualifying with Hamilton starting alongside him on the front row. The pair were still 1-2 when the chequered flag fell, cutting Hamilton's lead in the standings to just three points. There was some home cheer for Ferrari when Kimi Raikkonen battled his way up from fifth place to clinch the final podium spot.

Monza was Alonso's fourth win of the season - and his last for the team. Hamilton would win in Japan, but the final races of the season were dominated by Raikkonen who emerged victorious in Belgium, China and Brazil enabling him to clinch the title by one point from the two tied McLaren drivers. Ferrari also won the team title after McLaren was excluded for its role in that season's 'spygate' scandal.

2007 had certainly been a breathless, torrid year for McLaren. Frustrated by the situation, Alonso exited the team and headed to Renault in 2008. It left Hamilton ruling the roost at McLaren, and he went on to win the title that year by just a single point from Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

McLaren missed out on the constructors title that year and were instead runners-up. Since then, the team has failed to win another championship - driver or constructor - despite the unlikely return of Alonso to the team in 2015.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.