Just about everyone expected McLaren Mercedes to be better this year with a new, faster car and reigning Formula One champion Fernando Alonso moving from Renault into its No. 1 entry.

Alonso was able to fend off seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari for his second championship last year and it was almost a given he would be the star driver after switching to McLaren in 2007.

With Schumacher retired, everyone expected Alonso to be the guy to beat for the championship, with Kimi Raikkonen, who moved from McLaren to Ferrari to take Schumacher’s place, the likely top contender.

So here we are, seven races into the season, and Alonso is having a good season, but his rookie teammate is having a better one.

Lewis Hamilton, a 22-year-old Englishman, holds a 10-point lead in the standings over the Spaniard heading to the French Grand Prix on July 1.

Hamilton, who owes his career to Ron Dennis, the McLaren boss who discovered him at the age of eight and signed him to a development contract at 13, is paying his mentor back – big time.

Driving the No. 2 McLaren, Hamilton has capped his sensational F1 start – seven consecutive top-three finishes – with his first two victories.

He won two weeks ago in Canada with an almost perfect drive. Everyone else found trouble in the pits or on the slippery circuit.

Then last Sunday in the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis, Hamilton showed it was no fluke, outdueling his more experienced, 25-year-old teammate with another near-perfect drive to win again.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen and his Ferrari teammate, Felipe Massa, have struggled to keep up with the McLarens and are trailing Hamilton and Alonso in the championship points with 10 races to go.

Alonso, who has struggled to find his balance with new Bridgestone tires this season, was caught whining a bit last week, telling a Spanish radio station that he believes his Brit teammate is getting a little better equipment and more support from the British-based McLaren team.

Later, however, Alonso shrugged off any thoughts of a power struggle within the team, saying he is happy with the equipment and support he is getting.

If it is bothering him that his teammate, getting even more attention as the first black driver in F1 history, is beating him, Alonso kept it to himself after the race at Indy.

The two hugged warmly before heading to the victory podium and both smiled broadly throughout the ceremony.

“What the team tried to do is help us as much as they can both drivers, to tell me what Lewis is doing better and to tell him what I am doing better,” Alonso said. “Through a combination of both, we try to do a stronger team.”

Hamilton, last year’s GP2 champion, isn’t buying into the teammate-vs.-teammate drama either.

“Fernando has helped me and worked with me and he is a fantastic driver, a two-time world champion,” he said. “There is still a long way to go in this championship.”

Asked if being beaten by his teammate has changed their relationship, Alonso shook his head emphatically and said, “We are getting to know each other better now. There are some jokes I say to him, like, ‘You are lucky.’ And he tells me that, too. At the moment, it’s a very friendly relationship.

“Lewis has done a fantastic job from the first race. He did a good job over the winter preparing himself to race in F1. At the moment, everything goes very good for him and he has to keep the momentum.”

As for Hamilton, it’s a shock to hear people talking about winning the championship. At this point, he is just trying to enjoy the moment and not raise his own expectations too high.

“I just have to try and remain consistent and try to keep on winning,” he said.