Stoffel Vandoorne has painted a scathing picture of bias towards Fernando Alonso during his time at McLaren.
The Belgian was considered by many as a top talent destined to make a similar impact to Charles Leclerc when he finally got his promotion to a race seat with the British team in 2017.
Over the next two seasons, however, Vandoorne never emerged from the shadow of the double world champion and was even out-qualified 21-0 by Alonso in 2018.
“I never had any problems with him, but he always got what he wanted,” PlanetF1 quoted him as telling Belgian publication Sportza.
“There was always two, three well-placed people in the team who made sure everything went the way Fernando wanted it to be.
“The team gave him all the support and power. Every driver would have benefited from extra equipment to perform better than his teammate.
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“On paper, I never finished in front of Alonso, but of all the teammates I came closest, even just behind him.
“McLaren never told me not to finish in front of him, but they asked me in the race to let him pass. They almost always did that.”
After being replaced by Lando Norris for this year, Vandoorne found refuge at Mercedes and is now part of their Formula E team, scoring two podiums last weekend in the opening two rounds in Saudi Arabia.
Commenting on the difference between F1 and FE, the 27-year-old wasn't afraid to speak his mind there too.
“It is a bit of a fake world in which everyone gets along well, but above all has their own interests to defend,” he said of F1.
“In Formula E, Le Mans or the WEC endurance races you will find pure racing right now. You come here to race, not to do politics.
“Formula 1 remains the largest championship, Formula E is just below that”, he admitted.
“It is one of the most competitive championships I have competed in. Many drivers have experience in Formula 1, others have a track record with which they could enter F1.
“It’s the future. That’s why you see more and more car manufacturers.”
