Former Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan believes that both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are now too old to maintain pace with Max Verstappen across a title battle.
Having won 34 of the previous 44 races, Verstappen enters the upcoming season as the overwhelming favourite to secure a fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship.
Meanwhile, Hamilton, the record holder for F1 victories, has not triumphed since December 2021, while Alonso’s F1 win drought stretches back further to May 2013.
However, the ex-McLaren team-mates, who are the two oldest competitors on the grid, excelled last season to be the highest placed drivers on the grid not situated in a Red Bull.
But Jordan contends that the experience of Hamilton, 39, and Alonso, 42, would not separate that duo as the best suited to bring an end to Verstappen’s recent F1 dominance.
When discussing which two drivers he would field to challenge the Dutchman in charge of a team, Jordan plumped for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren ace Lando Norris.
“If I had a top team now and didn’t get Max, there would only be one driver pairing capable of taking on Verstappen: Charles Leclerc and as team-mate Lando Norris,” Jordan told German publication F1-Insider.
“I simply don’t believe that Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who are well-deserved champions, would be able to keep up with Verstappen due to their advanced age.”
Meanwhile, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also named Leclerc and Norris as two credible opponents to Verstappen but questioned the young pair’s consistency.
However, the Austrian warns that the three-time champion can still improve and has challenged the team to build a car that enables him to repeat last year’s success.
“Leclerc and Norris are certainly exceptional talents, but both have shown weaknesses in consistency in the past,” he told F1-Insider.
“What’s more, Max is not yet at the limit. He will get even better. It’s our job to provide him with a car as good as the one he had in 2023. Then he will be the benchmark again.”
Leclerc ended runner-up to Verstappen in the 2022 Drivers’ standings, while Norris capitalised on McLaren’s resurgence last season to log a career-best seven podiums.
But the Briton is still waiting to land an elusive victory in the top flight, having rued several errors in qualifying towards the end of last season that thwarted his race hopes.
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