Ahead of Spanish GP, Alonso denies problems with Hamilton

Apr 21, 2008, 15:47 GMT

Stuttgart - Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso maintains he 'never had any problem' with his former McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

'People always talked about him and created this animosity, but I never had any problem with him,' Alonso said in interviews Monday with Spain's El Pais and El Periodico de Catalunya dailies.

Alonso left McLaren at the end of the 2007 after a turbulent season to rejoin Renault, the team with which he won two world championships in 2005 and 2006.

Alonso also absolved Hamilton of any blame over a pit lane clash at last year's Hungarian Grand Prix when the British driver appeared to be impeded by Alonso during qualifying.

The Spaniard, who received a grid penalty for his part in the incident, said the team's management was to blame.

The comments can be seen as smoothing the waters ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday.

Following the Hamilton-Alonso rivalry last year, the Briton found himself the object of racist insults during test driving in Jerez in January. It led to the international motorsport federation FIA threatening the Spanish organizers with sanctions if there was any repeat.

Alonso admitted that his year at McLaren did not go smoothly.

'I think that among the 1,000 people that there are in McLaren, there are very great workers and engineers,' he said.

'But it is certain that, yes, there are people who disappointed me and who I couldn't work with.

'Hamilton wasn't one of them, he was on the margins of all that.'