Lewis Hamilton’s camp accused of creating tension with Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007

Slade believes Lewis and his father, Anthony, had more to do with it than people think. Hamilton, who came up through McLaren’s academy, ended up staying until 2012 and won the title in 2008.

“I really liked Fernando and I liked working with him,” Slade said. “He was a nice guy to work with. Yeah, he did play the game a little bit, but he was a good guy. He wasn’t a nasty person.

“Some of the stuff that went on was started by the Lewis camp – Lewis and his dad – and some of the things they did. It just shows that Fernando didn’t fit at McLaren. It just got worse and worse after that, certainly after Monaco.”

The Monaco race saw Hamilton finish behind Alonso after being told to hold position in second place. The FIA looked into whether this broke rules against team orders but eventually cleared McLaren of any wrongdoing.

McLaren once threatened staff over gift from Fernando Alonso

During the same interview, Slade shared a story about Alonso giving each member of his McLaren crew an envelope containing a thousand euros. At Renault, this kind of gesture had been accepted, but McLaren handled it differently.

Back at Renault, that sort of gesture was accepted, but Dave Ryan didn’t see it that way. He demanded the money be handed back and warned staff that keeping it could cost them their jobs. Alonso was told not to do it again.

“He appeared at the back of the garage with a bunch of envelopes,” Slade recalled. “And then he said: ‘At Renault I used to like to share in my winnings with my guys.’”

Slade added: “It’s not something I’ve done at McLaren so far, but I’d just like to show my appreciation for you doing such a job.”

“We opened these envelopes and I think there was €1000 in each envelope. We were gobsmacked. We thought: ‘Blimey, that’s a bit strange,’” he said.

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Slade continued: “We just said: ‘That’s really kind. Thanks very much.’” A short time later, Dave Ryan entered the motorhome looking furious. He told everyone they had to hand over the money to him or the team because it wasn’t allowed.

He warned that anyone who didn’t return the money would be sacked from their job. The envelopes ended up being given back to Fernando and he was asked not to repeat it in future.