Niki Lauda has warned Fernando Alonso that Lewis Hamilton could destroy his formula one career.
The great Austrian won the world championship for McLaren by half a point in 1984, but only after the arrival of his young teammate Alain Prost usually set the pace on the track.
“With each race in which he is beaten, Hamilton destroys Alonso a little more,” the triple world champion is quoted as saying by the German newspaper ‘Abendzeitung’.
Lauda said: “And with each race that he cannot turn around this trend, it gets even harder for him.”
The 58-year-old said Prost “began to destroy me piece by piece” throughout the 1984 season, before retiring for good the following year.
“I would set a fastest lap in practice and before I had even returned to the pits, he was quicker. I was completely finished.
“To win (the title), I had to change my approach. I stopped trying to beat Prost lap for lap and won by a half point at the end, because in the races I was smarter.”
Lauda also confirmed that McLaren officials in the mid-80s similarly operated a policy of driver equality, but said he soon began to notice Prost getting the best treatment when he was quicker.
