Jody Scheckter rates Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton as the two best drivers in Formula 1, shunning Fernando Alonso with whom he says he has lost respect for.
Speaking to MotorSport magazine, the 1979 world champion was asked to name which driver he rated most.
“I always put Vettel and Lewis together as the top two,” he said. “I probably have to put Alonso into that but I would probably pick those two drivers, yeah,” he added.
When pushed on why Alonso failed to make his top two, he explained how the Spaniard’s debut and only season with McLaren had resulted in him losing all respect for the two-time champion.
“I think what he did when he was at McLaren has just put me off him for life, I suppose,” explained Scheckter, though he couldn’t deny Alonso’s talent. “I think he drove well this year, there’s no question about that, he’s doing a good job on that, but when somebody does something like that you lose respect for them.”
On the other hand, Alonso’s then team-mate Hamilton has impressed the 62-year-old hugely since his debut season in 2007.
“When he came his first year and a half, two years, it was brilliant,” he said. “I mean no one comes in and has that sort of performance with so little things going wrong. It was incredible.
“Last year he was not even making mistakes by being over-aggressive. He was just making mistakes that were completely stupid.
“I rate him as the best driver in heavy traffic. I used to rate Jenson [Button] as one of the worst but he’s become quite good in traffic now. But Lewis has been for me in the first years fantastic.
“He did some manoeuvres in traffic that were just… and got away with it most of the time except for last year. I’m definitely a fan of his.”
