Alonso: If I was teammate of Lewis it would be very different

The 2007 will always be remembered by the Lewis Hamilton versus Fernando Alonso battle within the McLaren team - the precocious rookie versus the two times F1 world champion - the season was packed with bitter animosity and ended acrimoniously, but now almost a decade later Alonso claims he and Hamilton would make good teammates.

Speaking to ESPN about partnering Hamilton in the same team again, the Spaniard said, "I think it would be different. I'm more mature, he's more mature. The teams now are, in a way, more prepared for all the situations."

"If I was teammate of Lewis one day I think it would be very different, because we have learned and we are very different people. We no longer have that ... let's say that stress of winning on the side because I think we respect each other a lot. Everyone respects us a lot and we would drive as fast as we can but with another level of respect."

Alonso is sure such a pairing would be relished by the Formula 1 world, "I think everyone would love it, but only if the team is competitive, because it is the same case as Jenson [Button] and me [at McLaren]."

"We have a strong team now and we could fight for many important things, but when the car is not competitive your weekends are a little bit anonymous."

"You come here, you do your race and you go and no one will notice if you did a fantastic qualifying lap, if you did a mistake in qualifying and you are out of Q1.

As for his season thus far, the 35 year old Spaniard from Oviedo reflected, "We had some mistakes this year, we had some traffic in Baku - where we were more or less competitive - and we were 14th and 15th in qualifying because of the traffic."

"Who noticed that? No one, because all the things in the weekend are a little bit anonymous when you are not fighting for the world championship. I think yes, Formula One, or the fans, or everyone will love to see the big names, or the champions, fighting for the wins but this is probably not possible because in the DNA of the sport only one team can win."

It is highly unlikely that Alonso and Hamilton will be teammates again, but one thing that time has done is built respect between the two drivers who are regarded as the best of the current era.

Next season Hamilton will remain alongside Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, while the smart money is that Alonso will be partnered by another McLaren protege, namely Stoffel Vandoorne, but Alonso does not see a similar situation to 2007 playing out in 2017.

Alonso explained, "In 2007 it was very unique because Lewis was very protected by McLaren from a very young age, he was part of the programme, and he was very fast."

"We had a very competitive car so we were certainly fighting for the world championship when no one was expecting ... and he was British. So, Stoffel is not British. That's enough of the difference, I think," predicted Alonso.