The BBC is reportedly making ready a documentary concerning the legendary 2007 System 1 season. A marketing campaign outlined by an explosive inner rivalry at McLaren between rookie Lewis Hamilton and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, the notorious ‘Spygate’ industrial espionage scandal, and a dramatic Interlagos finale that in the end allowed Kimi Raikkonen to grab each titles for Ferrari.
Let’s flip again the clock to 20 years in the past. The yr is 2007. A younger GP2 reigning champion rises to the ranks of System 1. His title is Lewis Hamilton, and his arrival on the F1 grid will shake up a longtime champion, Fernando Alonso. Becoming a member of the McLaren group alongside the two-time defending champion, Lewis Hamilton will race what’s arguably among the best seasons within the self-discipline’s historical past. In the meantime, an ice-cold anti-hero was lurking at the hours of darkness and seized the chance to safe the crown in a dramatic title-deciding finale: Kimi Raikkonen. A story instructed by the BBC in an upcoming documentary shedding mild on the 61st season of System 1.
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Tensions boiling over between Hamilton and Alonso
First, let’s rewind again to the beginning of the marketing campaign. As Lewis Hamilton joined McLaren for his rookie season, Fernando Alonso had made a high-profile swap from Renault to Ron Dennis’ group, coming into as the one World Champion on the grid after Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher had retired.
Although tensions had already brewed earlier within the season, particularly on the Monaco Grand Prix, the place the Briton was compelled to carry off to permit for the Spaniard’s victory within the curiosity of the group, they culminated in Hungary.
Hamilton arrived at Spherical 11 main the standings, with Alonso simply two factors behind. The primary controversial incident of that weekend befell throughout qualifying, when Alonso prevented Hamilton from finishing his last flying lap by holding him up within the pits. It was a profitable sabotage, as the long run star couldn’t cross the road in time to start his last push lap. Alonso was subsequently handed a five-place grid penalty for the Hungarian Grand Prix, whereas McLaren was rendered ineligible to attain Constructors’ factors for the occasion.
As if this weren’t sufficient, experiences emerged claiming Alonso then threatened group principal Ron Dennis, warning he would reveal compromising proof to the FIA relating to ‘Spygate’ if the group didn’t intentionally starve Hamilton of gas…
Industrial espionage
This battle for supremacy and the escalating tensions contained in the McLaren storage unfolded in opposition to the backdrop of an excellent larger disaster involving the Woking-based outfit. Generally often called ‘Spygate’, the notorious industrial espionage case centred round 780 pages of confidential Ferrari technical paperwork provided by former Ferrari chief mechanic Nigel Stepney. Discovered responsible, McLaren was excluded from the Constructors’ Championship and hit with the biggest effective in sporting historical past, $100 million, although they in the end paid $31 million after prize-money changes.
Hamilton misses out on title in dramatic Brazil finale
However, the drivers’ factors have been spared to protect an exhilarating title combat. Main Alonso by 12 factors and Räikkönen by 17 heading into the penultimate spherical in China, Lewis Hamilton was on the point of historical past. Nevertheless, a pricey strategic misstep by McLaren saved him out on closely worn intermediate tyres on a drying observe. Sliding into the moist pit-entry gravel, the rookie beached his automobile, recording the very first retirement of his F1 profession.
Heading into the season finale at Interlagos, the highest three have been separated by simply seven factors, with Hamilton main teammate Alonso and Räikkönen. However on the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, all the pieces flipped. Ending P7 after an early gearbox difficulty, Hamilton missed out on his first World Championship by simply two positions as Kimi Raikkonen took victory.
Having entered the ultimate spherical sitting third within the standings, the Ferrari driver left Brazil as World Champion. McLaren appealed to protest the legality of a number of rival automobiles, however the Finn was formally confirmed as champion in mid-November.
This marked the primary time since 1986 that three drivers stood an opportunity of profitable the title on the last race, and the primary time since Giuseppe Farina in F1’s inaugural 1950 season {that a} driver sitting third previous to the finale went on to grab the crown.
Hamilton’s 12-point lead coming into the ultimate race had evaporated, leaving him wanting the world title by a single level. He secured P2 within the standings, tied on 109 factors with Alonso however forward on countback as a consequence of having 5 second-place finishes in comparison with Alonso’s 4.
McLaren had collected 218 factors on observe, however their Constructors’ disqualification handed Ferrari a fifteenth Constructors’ crown with 204 factors. Crucially, it additionally stays the final Drivers’ World Championship gained by a Ferrari driver so far.
The 2007 season additionally marked the ultimate yr of traction management. Furthermore, it launched one other future famous person alongside Hamilton: Sebastian Vettel, who scored factors on debut for BMW Sauber earlier than changing Scott Velocity at Toro Rosso. Lastly, it represented the closing chapter of the historic Concorde Settlement period between the groups and Bernie Ecclestone.
Insiders weigh in on the upcoming documentary
Although the British broadcaster has but to formally affirm the venture, former System 1 Spanish commentator and SoyMotor co-director Antonio Lobato revealed he was approached to take part, a suggestion he selected to say no.
“It’s positively going to be instructed, for certain. The query is… what’s going to be instructed? As a result of I do know the BBC is making ready a documentary,” Lobato revealed.
“They invited me to take part, and I declined the invitation. I don’t need to get entangled in these tales. I do know what I lived by way of, I do know what occurred, maybe from my standpoint, which could even be a bit distorted, and when the documentary comes out, I’ll get pleasure from watching it,” he acknowledged.
“I do know there are different fellow journalists who have been there that yr who will do it, who can be there and can inform a part of what occurred, and we’ll see how they deal with it, the way it’s completed, and the way that story is offered and instructed,” Lobato concluded.
Whereas no launch date has been confirmed, any deep dive into one of the crucial dramatic years in System 1 historical past guarantees to be important viewing.
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