Hamilton: I mishandled Alonso back in 2007

Lewis Hamilton concedes mistakes were made during his first year at McLaren where he "misinterpreted and misunderstood" the situation when he came up against double World Champ Fernando Alonso.

The animosity between the two 2007 McLaren drivers reached fever point during qualifying at the Hungarian GP where underhanded tactics in the pits came to the fore.

At the time, Alonso accused the team of favouring Hamilton by "holding me back", although the race stewards had a different view point and stripped the Spaniard of pole position, effectively handing it to Hamilton.

The end result was Alonso left the team at the end of just one season amidst accusations while Hamilton has now conceded that he perhaps mishandled the situation.

"At the beginning of my first year I was up alongside the two-time World Champion and he was seen as the guy to win the World Championship and I think at the time I misinterpreted and misunderstood the goals and the understanding of how the team worked," he told the BBC.

However, the Brit firmly denies claims made by Alonso at the time that McLaren focused on Hamilton to Alonso's detriment. A claim also made by Heikki Kovalainen when he left the team at the end of last season.

"Since I've been here they do everything to give us individually the best package possible. I've never had more than the guy next to me, we've always had equal opportunity, which is the greatest thing in a team.

"It's not easy to manage that, because one guy can be ahead of the other.

"Inevitably people say things sometimes when they haven't done so well. You say things out of anger; you say things that you potentially don't mean. That's how I see it from the others."

This season, Hamilton will team up with reigning World Champion Jenson Button and although many are expecting fireworks, Hamilton reckons they can and will have an amicable partnership.

"It's different (now)," said Hamilton. "We've learnt from experiences."

And 'experiences' to learn from are something Hamilton has gone through all too often during his three-year F1 career. The Brit, though, is hoping for a smooth ride this season.

"Having made lots and lots of mistakes in my career, hopefully this will be a year of a lot fewer!" he added.

Hamilton: I mishandled Alonso back in 2007 - Planet-F1 News from planet-f1.com