You are one of the great names in the history of F1. You have the first place driver in the standings, and the second place guy, and you know that one of them is going to sit on the pole in Hungary. The guy with the points lead is the hottest rookie in the history of the sport, and the guy in second actually wears number one. He is the two-time and defending World F1 Driving Champion. You've got the world by the throat!
And then you forget how squeeze.
In the Hungarian GP's last qualifying session, Fernando Alonso, stalled in the pits in front of his teammate's car before going out on one last bonzi run for the pole. The guy he sat in the pits stalling was McLaren rookie and World Championship points leader Lewis Hamilton. When Alonso left, he had time to make one flying lap to grab the pole. Hamilton did not get that chance.
So...
Alonso gets pole, team manager Ron Dennis gets upset, F1 slaps Alonso with a grid penalty that starts him 10th, Hamilton inherits pole, Hamilton wins race, Hamilton retains points lead, F1 dissalows McLaren constructor points for both cars, Dennis and McLaren appeal, Alonso says its Hamilton's fault for not following team orders in the first session, and Ron Dennis is looking like a complete fool for allowing this to happen in the first place.
Why? Thank's for askin!
If you have the lead in the World Championship, YOU PROTECT THE LEAD, no matter who has it, the defending World Champ, or the rookie upstart! The lead in F1 is hard to get, its even harder to keep. So what you do is protect it. That is why you have two cars, that is why they are painted alike, that is why you have the same sponsors on both cars, and that is why you are called TEAM McLaren. Somewhere in all of this, Fernando Alonso forgot that F1 is a team sport and decided that his winning a third consecutive World Championship is more important than McLaren winning one for the first time in several years.
I know, I know...
They pay Alonso a lot of money, he's the best driver in the world, yada-yada... Get one thing through your head, Alonso and Hamilton are both very young. You cannot treat this like its Alonso's last year in the sport. In Hamilton you have a driver the equal in driving skill to Alonso. Not only that, he has proven that he is competitive as all get out. This kid is not being compared to Schumacher or, Fangio, he is being compared to Ayrton Senna. You do not get higher praise than that. If he has Senna-like ability, that means that he has Senna-Like pride and desire. You do not reward that with favoritism to a guy who is in second place.
McLaren once placed the same kind of situation on the table with Alain Prost and the aformentioned Senna. They dominated in their years at McLaren, with both winning championships but it ended in disaster in 1989 with both drivers taking eachother out at Suzuka at year's end with Senna, (the defending champion) making one last gasp effort to overtake Prost for the crown. For all the races and championships won while they were there, it is the most memorable moment of the Senna/Prost years at McLaren.
McLaren was'nt really asking for this because they never really expected Hamiltion to be this good this fast. Well surprise Ron Dennis, you've got the best driver in the world in the number two car, and you better make sure that you let it be known that the guy in front is the guy you work to keep in front, or the two best drivers in Formula One are going to make you remember the old axium:
Those who do not heed the mistakes of history, are doomed to repeat them.