Lewis Hamilton addresses Fernando Alonso-Mercedes reports

LEWIS Hamilton has been forced to address reports of a shock Mercedes driver change after a former world champion sent the team a message in China.

He’s back.

LEWIS Hamilton has poured cold water on suggestions Fernando Alonso could join him at Mercedes in 2018.

Alonso’s future at McLaren beyond the end of this year has once again been in the spotlight following the Honda-powered team’s latest disappointing start to a season.

The Spaniard has been linked intermittently with a switch to F1’s world champions over recent years, and while Mercedes Toto Wolff said last December Alonso was being “considered” as a potential replacement for the retired Nico Rosberg, the 35-year-old was never thought to be a serious option with the team eventually signing Valtteri Bottas.

And with Bottas making a solid start to his Mercedes career, Hamilton believes the team already have the perfect “balance” between their two drivers.

“It’s not going to happen,” Hamilton was quoted as saying by PA.

“Valtteri is fantastic here at the team. He was very, very fast at the last race [Australia].

“He has obviously got a lot of potential and a lot of growth to go, but it is all about finding the right balance in the team. So far Valtteri and I have a great balance and the scales weigh up nicely.

Sad to see.

“If you have got two kilos on either side, and then take the two kilos off and put four on, what is the point? You need the balance.”

Mercedes’ link to Alonso was strengthened by the abysmal performance of the McLaren car this season.

Alonso was awarded a 9/10 on the Skysports.com official driver ratings for his performance in China, driving the wheels off his McLaren to mix with the middle of the F1 grid before he was forced to retire from the race with a gear box failure.

How much more of this can Alonso take?

The former world champion credited divine intervention after driving “like an animal” in Saturday’s qualifying in China amid rumours of a possible switch to Mercedes.

The Spaniard’s beleaguered McLaren has been beset by reliability issues but he squeezed the most out of it with a 13th-place finish in qualifying at the Shanghai circuit.

The Honda engine is no where near it right now.

“I’m driving like an animal!” he growled over the radio to his team early in the qualifying session.

Just 17th in practice earlier in the day, Alonso declared his qualifying performance as “one of the best laps I’ve done in my life”.

The Spaniard was a monster on race day to keep his car in the top ten before a driveshaft failure forced him to park up.

Alonso’s comment on Saturday night that “in the corners, we are very good — as fast as anyone else — and on the straights we are the slowest by far” leave no room for doubt as to where he believes the blame resides.

And just what was the message Alonso was sending out when he expressed his disbelief at spotting Bottas behind him on track midway through the race.