Formula One news

De la Rosa: Alonso has rejuvenated McLaren

Pedro de la Rosa, who has been at McLaren since 2003, has hailed the arrival of the team's two new drivers this season; Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. The Spaniard believes that the two bring a lot of qualities and that particularly Alonso's presence has galvanised the team's spirit. The team has lacked a bit of leadership from its drivers in recent years but de la Rosa feels that his fellow countryman focuses McLaren's direction.

"Everything is quite different this year, starting obviously with the drivers," de la Rosa said.

"I think that Fernando's arrival at the team has brought great leadership and that translates into people obviously being extremely motivated and him also giving the team very good direction, where we have to go. And then, on the other hand, Lewis just brings youth and he works very hard. He's always pushing. Lewis has actually been with the team for a long time. Since I've been with the team, I've always seen him. We've been working together for a few years now, so I feel like Fernando is newer to the team than Lewis is, but they both bring very good things and at the end of the day, it's how you can get all the people, those here and back at the factory, to give 110 percent, and thanks to Fernando we have achieved that."

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