Whether it be genuine dislike or serious competitiveness, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton aren't exactly the best of friends.
Their on (and off) track clashes at the recent Melbourne Grand Prix were only the latest in a history of abrasiveness between the two World Champions, one which started way back in 2007 when the rookie Hamilton joined the seasoned two-time (and current defending) champions Alonso at McLaren.
Things got off to a prickly start almost immediately after Hamilton accused McLaren of favouring Alonso and forcing him to accept second place behind the Spaniard at the Monaco Grand Prix, at a time when team orders were banned. This led to an investigation by the FIA that eventually cleared the team, but the damage to Hamilton and Alonso's relationship was done.
READ MORE
And it only increased at following races, with Hamilton refusing to let Alonso past during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix and Alonso subsequently retaliating and holding up Hamilton in pit lane, as well as numerous other incidents throughout the 2007 season. By the end of the season Hamilton and Alonso weren't on speaking terms and it was widely expected that one of them would be leaving McLaren.
That turned out to be Alonso who returned to Renault, before eventually returning to McLaren in 2015, following a stint at Ferrari.
During that extremely fractious time at McLaren, the two teammates appeared in a television commercial for Mercedes-Benz that perfectly summed up the relationship between the two insanely competitive individuals: it was called "Racing is a state of mind" and features the pair sparing on a trip from a race track to their hotel rooms, trying to beat each other in their AMG road cars, to check in to the hotel and even to make it to the lift first.
It culminates rather brilliantly with the pair trying to outdo each other in a sauna and struggling with the heat, before a hand reaches down and turns the heat up further. It is, of course, Mercedes-Benz legend Mika Hakkinen...