Fernando Alonso’s former race engineer Mark Slade has discussed in an interview the moment the Spaniard gave his McLaren colleagues thousands of euros after a successful race at the Nürburgring in 2007 – something the team shut down almost immediately.
Speaking in an interview, as quoted by Marca, Slade detailed the moments that led to the two-time champion giving out envelopes of cash as a thank you to his team.
“At the Nürburgring in 2007, on the first day, Fernando came up to me and said, ‘Can you give me a list of everyone working on my car?’” he said. “I thought, ‘OK, yeah, I can do that.’ And then I asked, ‘To what extent? ’ Because obviously there’s the parts store guy, the guys who work on your cars, and then there’s the rest, you know, you can’t define who works on your car and who doesn’t.
“So, anyway, I made a list that I thought was okay, as best I could, including the petrol guy, the fuel guy, and the tyre guy. But I didn’t know what it was for, so we already have it ready and in the end I said, ‘Here’s the list.’
“A while later, he came back in the morning and said, ‘Could you have these guys on the list meet me at the back?’ He just wanted to have a chat with his guys before the weekend started.”
According to Slade, Alonso then gave envelopes to each one, containing approximately €1,000 as a gesture of thanks.
“And he said, ‘I used to like to share my winnings with my guys in the car. It’s not something I’ve done at McLaren so far, but it’s something I like to show my appreciation for being in my car and doing such a good job.’ He handed out the envelopes, we opened them, and I think there was €1,000 in each one.
“I was just blown away, and this included Tyler. You know Tyler? Yeah, he was one of the guys there. And he said, ‘Wow, that’s kind of weird, that’s never happened before.’ And I think we were a little taken aback, didn’t know what to say. So we just said, ‘That’s so sweet, thank you so much.'”
Fernando Alonso seat fitting
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
This surprise gesture wasn’t appreciated by the team management, however, with the then-sporting director confronting them over what had happened.
“[Alonso] was very humble with me, he just said, ‘I really appreciate your help.’ So we went about our business, and a while later Dave Ryan came into the motorhome with a sour face and asked me, ‘What the hell happened in the garage?’ And I said, ‘Well, Fernando…’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I thought that’s what happened. Basically, you have to give us all the money, you have to give it to me, you have to give it to the team.’
“It’s completely outrageous, we can’t allow that on this team.’ I was like, ‘Oh, oh, OK, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, OK.’ And he basically said that anyone who didn’t get their money back would be fired.”
The money was returned, with Slade attributing this to the incompatibility between Alonso and the McLaren team.
“It was basically said Fernando was trying to buy the loyalty of his mechanics. And maybe I’m naïve – it didn’t seem that way to me,” he said. “I think this showed the incompatibility between Fernando and McLaren… I liked Fernando a lot and I liked working with him. He was a good guy.”
Following the 2007 season, Alonso cut ties with the Woking outfit after a controversial year. The Spaniard believed McLaren only had eyes for his then-team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s side of the garage. He returned to Renault for the 2008 and 2009 seasons in which he won multiple races.
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