23/05/2007
NEWS STORY
Despite claims in the British media that Lewis Hamilton's success has "sparked civil war" at McLaren, the English youngster says that nothing could be further from the truth, that all is well at Woking and he and Fernando Alonso remain good friends.
Asked today if, following his run of four successive points finishes, which leave him leading the World Championship, his relationship with Alonso has changed, Hamilton replied: "I don't think it's changed. I think with the team, the relationship grows constantly. I've been at McLaren for a long, long time, and it just gets better and better.
"We're very much working extremely hard together to succeed," he continued, "and it's going extremely well at the moment so, as you can see, it's getting better and better.
"I think with me and Fernando the relationship is growing," he added. "We're sort of starting to understand each other. Obviously we've got a huge amount of respect for each other as we always have. But it's doing fine.
Asked to define his relationship with the Spaniard, Hamilton was asked if it was a rivalry or a master-pupil relationship.
"I never actually thought it was a master-pupil thing to be honest," said the Englishman. "I think that as in every team, there's a little bit of rivalry there but that's only on the track.
"We're professionals," he continued. "Off the track we're friends, we can talk, we're relaxed, there's no tension there."
Meanwhile, Alonso continues to warn that the threat comes not from within his team but from Maranello.
"To beat the Ferraris these days is so difficult," he told reporters. "They are showing a pace that we don't have in a race situation and its very difficult to beat them."
However, the World Champion knows that the F2007 is not without its problems.
"Once they have a mechanical problem, as Kimi had in Barcelona or Felipe in Australia in the qualifying, for us its a big opportunity to gain points from them," he said.
Alonso believes that with back-to-back races in the USA and Canada in the coming weeks, good finishes in the month ahead are vital.
"The next three races you need to be there," he said, "you need to be on the podium in all three races. If not, you start to lose too many points.
"At the moment we are four drivers fighting for everything but if one of them has two or three bad results, then maybe it's a little bit too far in terms of championship points," he added.