Sports / Motor Racing |
Monaco win raises Alonso's spirits(Reuters)Updated: 2007-05-29 09:52 Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix victory gave double world champion Fernando Alonso a timely boost after being beaten by McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton in his last two races. The Spaniard left the principality as a winner for the second year in a row and leading the championship, albeit level on 38 points with rookie Hamilton, on race wins. "It means a lot, psychologically and also for the championship battle," said Alonso after securing McLaren's 150th grand prix win and second one-two of the season. The race was clouded only by debate over their decision to order both drivers to ease off and not race each other after the first pitstop. But that did not trouble the winner. "I enjoyed today and that's probably the best thing about today," Alonso added. Despite winning two of the season's five races so far, the 25-year-old is facing his toughest team mate yet in Hamilton. He has yet to gel fully with his new team after switching from Renault while 22-year-old Hamilton has been a McLaren protege for more than a decade. There have been rumours of discord, speculation stamped on by team boss Ron Dennis at the weekend. "Our personal relationship is absolutely perfect. We talk between races, we eat together, he comes to my home when he comes to England," Dennis told reporters. "He is still going up a curve of getting to know people, to trust people and feel comfortable with everybody and that is not something Lewis has had to do. "But Fernando is a wonderful chap. He is quiet, thoughtful, worries endlessly about everything, but just loves being in a racing car," the Englishman added. "I'm quite sure that if you filmed him going round a race track, you would find he smiles more in the car than out of it. He loves going motor racing." The smile was back on Sunday: "I never won with more than a minute to the third guy. For sure, this is the easiest and probably the nicest victory so far," he said.
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