Fernando Alonso believes Sebastian Vettel is yet to prove his is on a par with himself and Lewis Hamilton, many of whom rank as the two best drivers in the sport.
Earlier this year, Pedro de la Rosa stated that Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel are the only drivers capable of dragging an under-performing car to places on the grid it shouldn’t be.
In an interview with Sport.es, Alonso questioned whether Vettel had proven this to be true, as we’re yet to see the German in a car not capable of winning – despite Vettel’s pole to flag victory in a 2008 Toro Rosso.
“Hamilton has already shown several times that he can win with a car that may not be the best,” said Alonso. “Two we have seen do it, the third [Vettel] is yet to.
“The true Vettel we’ll see when he has a car capable of only sixth, if he gets it to be second, third or fourth, then fine, but until now we’ve only seen him in a car that won the championship with five races remaining. We must wait.”
Alonso has suffered a year of having to drag his Ferrari to places it doesn’t belong, securing nine podium finishes and a win in the process, despite his teammate, Felipe Massa, having failed to finish higher than fifth.
The Spaniard is hoping that will change next season with the introduction of former-McLaren designer, Pat Fry.
“There have been major changes within the team in the last year precisely because of the lack of creativity or lack of speed in the development of the car.
“McLaren is a good example of this, when they start the year with a problem it is resolved in a couple of races and they finish with a chance of winning,” he added.
“Pat Fry has brought new ideas, new methodology and I have not the slightest doubt that Ferrari is much better today than it was in the last year and a half. The problems of a lack of creativity, speed and lack of evolution in the car will hopefully be resolved.”
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