Fernando Alonso could’ve won the Formula 1 World Championships in 2007 and 2008 if he was backed properly by McLaren, according to his former race engineer Mark Slade.
After securing back-to-back titles with Renault, Alonso joined McLaren in 2007 to partner then-rookie Lewis Hamilton.
The duo endured a turbulent season alongside each other, with both contending for the title against Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen would go on to take his one and only F1 title at the final race of the year, with Alonso opting to leave McLaren and return to Renault the following year.
Although Alonso didn’t see eye-to-eye with McLaren boss Ron Dennis, Slade told MotorLAT that he had a good relationship with the Spaniard: “Working with Fernando was great.
“He is the terminator of Formula 1, isn’t he? He just never gives up, and he’s just super fast.
“You just knew that you were working with someone who was trying desperately to win every race he entered, so that was fantastic.”
Slade claims that poor team management was the downfall of Alonso’s stint at McLaren, believing the driver was not at fault for the issues.
“The problems were more within the team, to be honest,” Slade said.
“The team atmosphere was pretty poor. I think a few things happened that exaggerated the problems that were there.
“I would say it could have been better handled from a management perspective and a team objective. Things didn’t work the way they should have done. Really we just threw away the championship in 2007.
“I think if Fernando had been backed properly, we probably would have won the ’07 and ’08 championships. Who knows what would have happened after that but there you go. It’s the way it was.
“I never had a problem with Fernando himself. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him.”
