In the first part of an exclusive interview with Pit Debrief, former F1 engineer Steve Hallam discussed his time with Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, and his hopes the Ferrari driver will make it eight Drivers’ Championships at the Scuderia.
At the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP, the now 105-time race winner looked set to win a record-breaking eighth title. However, race director Michael Masi breached FIA rules to ensure a last-lap showdown took place between Max Verstappen and the British driver.
On much fresher and softer rubber, the Dutchman made the move into turn 5 and completed the pass to claim his first F1 title in the most controversial of circumstances.
Hallam wishes for F1 title number eight for Hamilton
In his 17 years at McLaren from 1991 through to 2008, the British engineer and his colleagues went up against Ferrari for championships in the late 1990s and in the 2000s. It was a fierce rivalry, and there was no love lost at times. Mika Häkkinen defeated Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine in 1998 and 1999 respectively, with Lewis Hamilton coming out on top against Felipe Massa in 2008.
Steve Hallam hopes that Lewis Hamilton can get one last title at the Scuderia before he retires from F1 following the events of December 2021.
“Well, I think the first thing to say is, in my opinion, Lewis should have eight world championships, because I think the [ending to the] 2021 Abu Dhabi [GP] — that was disgraceful,” he said in response when asked if Hamilton’s remarkable success had surprised him.
“Anyway, be that as it may, I sincerely hope for Lewis’ sake, because he has proved over the years to be a very worthy champion, I hope he gets his eighth championship, I really do.
“I have a great affinity for Mercedes-Benz, because when I was at McLaren, we had a lot of success there, and I really enjoyed working with those guys.
“I’m sorry it wasn’t with Mercedes-Benz, but if it has to be with Ferrari for Lewis to get his eighth championship, then good luck to Ferrari, and I hope he gets it.”
The dramatic ending to the 2008 F1 World Championship
Looking back at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix — the final F1 race for Hallam before moving on to new racing projects in the United States and Australia — he recalled his memories of that remarkable day.
First of all, he praised Lewis Hamilton for not giving up when it all looked lost. He ran wide at Junção with three laps to go, losing P5 to Sebastian Vettel. Massa looked set to win the championship.
However, as the rain started to come down harder, Timo Glock struggled on his dry tyres on the final lap. Heading towards Junção, Hamilton got his P5 back. In the process, he claimed his first title in extraordinary circumstances.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s at times like that where you see what drivers really want out of life, and Lewis showed that. Credit to him.
“He earned that championship. And sure, he done the hard graft up to that point, but that point showed how much he wanted it.”
The emotional rollercoaster in the final laps
Steve Hallam talked about the emotions that went on in the McLaren and Ferrari garages in the closing laps as the mood in the garages completely changed after Lewis Hamilton passed Glock and crossed the line in P5. He took the title by a single point from Massa in the Ferrari.
The British engineer said it was proof of the massive emotions sport can bring.
“I reflect on that for the probably the 30 seconds prior to that, because Massa won the race. And with Felipe winning the race, for a few brief seconds, he looked as if he was going to be world champion, until Lewis made that overtake on Timo Glock in a Toyota.
“I think it was Felipe’s father on TV, went from outright joy to ‘oh [we] just lost it’. But that range of emotions for all of us, we were coming in the opposite direction. We were going up and he was coming down at the same time.
“And that’s what sport does at times, and that’s why it’s so great. For me, it’s so great. A lot of people may disagree.”
How Hamilton surprised McLaren with his pace in rookie F1 season
18 years ago Lewis Hamilton burst onto the scene as a 22-year-old rookie and shook up the established order in F1. Following Michael Schumacher’s retirement, many expected Kimi Räikkönen [who had moved from McLaren to Ferrari] and Fernando Alonso [who had moved from Renault to McLaren] to be the two vying for the Drivers’ Championship. However, the Spaniard’s rookie teammate had other ideas.
At the first race in Albert Park, he swept around the outside at turn 1 to take P3 from his teammate. While Alonso ultimately got P2 through the second round of fuel stops, a marker was put down.
In Malaysia, the Spaniard won in dominant fashion as Hamilton fended off Räikkönen for P2.
“We were excited to have him [Fernando Alonso] because he was clearly the man of the moment having won two World Championships in 2005 and 2006,” said Hallam who was head of race engineering at the time.
“We were also excited to have Lewis, but I don’t think any of us realised how quick Lewis was going to be.
“[In Australia] Kimi won the race, Fernando finished second and Lewis was third. And Fernando took Lewis through pit stops to get the second place. And we thought ‘woah, Lewis is quick, good’.
“We go to Sepang, Fernando wins in Sepang, gets his first win for McLaren, happiness all round.”
Monaco is the first flashpoint
Hamilton secured another pair of P2s in Bahrain and Spain, putting him top of the championship by two points heading into Monaco. He was flying and had Alonso on the back foot.
The Spaniard put it on pole in Q3 as Hamilton had to settle for a front row start. Alonso goes on to win the race from the Brit.
It sounded pretty straightforward. However, it was anything but as instructions were ignored and Hamilton vented in the press conference.
Although Mark Slade was Alonso’s race engineer in 2007, Steve Hallam was on the radio throughout the season to give messages to the Spaniard.
“By the time we get to Monaco, it’s clear that we’ve got two very good drivers. Fernando put the car on pole at Monaco. Lewis was second.
“We had a rule at McLaren where after the last pit stop, if we’re running first and second, that’s how we’re to finish. We’re not going to race, the two drivers are not going to race, and it’s important to protect the machinery and make sure we bring home a one-two.
“We get to that situation in Monaco, Fernando is leading. He’s about seven seconds ahead of Lewis. Ron says on the pitwall, ‘okay, get the guys to turn their engines down. This is what we’re going to do’.
“The whole organisation knew, Mercedes, McLaren, everything. That’s what’s going to happen.”
Hamilton does not turn his engine down and makes his feeling clear afterwards
Having built a solid gap, Alonso had control of the race. However, Hamilton continued to push as he ignored team instructions regarding turning his engine down. The Spaniard took matters into his own hands and turned his back up.
Steve Hallam recalls how things played out between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton that day.
“So I say to Fernando, ‘okay, Yellow G’, whatever the engine number was then, which is the engine power switch, and he turns it down.
“And the same message goes to Lewis. And Lewis suddenly is on Fernando’s tail. He had not turned his engine down.
“Fernando turns his engine up, gaps Lewis a little, and I said, ‘Fernando, you know, turn your engine down. He said, ‘I’ll turn my engine down when he turns his engine down’.
“Ron [Dennis] gets on the radio to Lewis to tell him to turn his engine down. Eventually, Lewis turns his engine down. Fernando turns his engine down, we finish first and second.
“The guys go into the press conference, and everyone is going, ‘congratulations Fernando’, blah blah blah. Then they talk to Lewis, and then someone says, ‘how do you feel about finishing second in your first Monaco Grand Prix’? He says, ‘well, that’s why I won number two on my car’.
“And okay, we were not expecting to hear him say that.”
Things heat up at Indianapolis
Hamilton took victory in Montreal next time out, reclaiming the championship lead by eight points from his teammate.
It boiled over again at Indianapolis. In the second stint, Alonso closed on his teammate and had a small pace advantage.
On lap 38, the Spaniard got in the slipstream and tried to go around the outside into turn 1. The Brit defended brilliantly and held him off.
Alonso swerved towards the pitwall at the end of the lap as he looked for team orders to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as told by Steve Hallam.
“Prior to Indianapolis, Lewis wins his first race in Canada. We go to Indianapolis, halfway through the race, Lewis is leading, Fernando is second and very close to him.
“Fernando comes on the radio and says, ‘I’m quicker than Lewis, tell him to move over’. And after a quick consultation with Ron, I go back to Fernando and say, ‘if you’re quicker than Lewis, overtake him’.
“So Fernando has a couple of lunges going into turn one, doesn’t pull it off, and ends up running [and finishing] behind Lewis.
“And then afterwards, Fernando said to me, “argh, tough conversation, eh, Steve? And I said, ‘yeah, but that is what we have got to do’.”
It reaches boiling point in Hungary
With Ferrari struggling for pace in Budapest, the pole position battle was between Alonso and Hamilton.
At the start of Q3 during the fuel burn phase, Hamilton was asked to let Alonso by. He did not do so.
The Spaniard took his revenge by staying in the pit box for an extra few seconds ahead of the final runs, meaning the Brit missed the chequered flag. Despite taking pole with his last run, Alonso was slapped with a 5-place grid drop for it. Hamilton inherited pole and grabbed the win the following day.
“And then a couple of races later, we get to Budapest. And yeah, when people don’t do what they agree to do, that causes difficulty. I’ll just leave it at that,” Hallam said on the events of that Saturday.
Co-Author: Lenny Sundahl
