Alonso praises Hamilton: 'Be at your very best to beat him'.

Hamilton made his Formula 1 debut in 2007 as Fernando Alonso's teammate at McLaren. It didn't go well between the two. McLaren had the best package, but the two drivers took too many points from each other and fought too much amongst themselves, which led to Kimi Raikkonen winning the title.

The battle at McLaren

''With Lewis I never had the competition I was looking forward to. It's true that in 2007 we were teammates and some say that's the best fight you can have, but in 2007 neither of us were ready for it. Hamilton, as a rookie, was not ready and I was not performing at my best level,'' said Alonso.

''I wasn't really integrated in the team yet. Also, we had a lot of internal fights and stress within the team for the title. We were not managed well that year. We finished equal in points and you can see that as a great fight, but I think we both could have done better.''

Hamilton and Alonso outrun each other

Alonso would have liked to fight Hamilton for the world title later in his career, but that opportunity (as yet) did not come. Alonso returned to Renault in 2008, saw Hamilton take the world title and in the following years their packages would elude each other. In the years that Alonso was competing for the title with Ferrari, Hamilton's package at McLaren was not good enough and vice versa since Hamilton made the switch to Mercedes.

''In the following years I had a better package with Ferrari than he did at McLaren so we didn't fight with each other. Then he went to Mercedes, he has the best package and we never had the chance to fight with each other again. That is a missed opportunity in my career. He's a legend in the sport though. He really pushes you to the limit. If you want to beat him then you have to be at your very best,'' the two-time world champion concluded praising Hamilton.