Lewis Hamilton is hoping that the battle he had with Fernando Alonso during the Mexican Grand Prix becomes a more regular occurrence in 2018, with the Briton hoping his former team becomes a front running force again after years in the wilderness.
The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team racer and 2017 World Champion battled his former team-mate for what was ninth place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez towards the end of the race, but Hamilton admits seeing the McLaren F1 Team having such a difficult time has been hard for him to bare, particularly as the team gave him his break in Formula 1 back in 2007 and took him to his first title a year later.
McLaren will run with Renault power in 2018 after three years of struggles with Honda, and Hamilton hopes this brings Alonso back towards the front of the field and into the championship battle that involved himself and Sebastian Vettel in 2017.
“I had a great battle with Fernando earlier this year, towards the end of this season,” said Hamilton on Motorsport.com. “I’d love to have more battles with him on a much more level playing ground.
“They’ve had such a difficult time. Given that I grew up with McLaren from 13, I go through qualifying and I always look to see where Fernando is, I always look to see where they are and am watching their progress.
“There’s just a natural place in my heart for them, because I achieved a huge amount with them. I really, really hope next year is a successful year for them, I really hope we are battling with them because McLaren deserve to be at the front.
“I hope with this new power unit they’re there with us. I hope we have another incredible world champion up there with us fighting for the world championship.”
