Fernando Alonso has warned McLaren that Max Verstappen has shown he has the capabilities to overcome a car disadvantage to win the Formula 1 championship.
Alonso has faced his fair share of title fights, the Spaniard holding two titles, which he won in 2005 and 2006, despite enduring a barren period in more recent times.
Alonso has raced against a slew of drivers, covering three generations of ‘greats’.
Winning his first titles against Michael Schumacher and later fighting against Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and now, albeit further down the grid, Verstappen.
Alonso was asked about the current championship fight, drawing on his years of experience to consider whether Verstappen is capable of beating the two McLarens.
“He’s a four-time World Champion, first of all. That’s not a casual thing,” Alonso told media including Motorsport Week.
“He’s one of the best drivers in the history of the sport. I think he’s able to extract the maximum from the car.
“When the car is a dominant car, he can win the championship and break some records along the season.
“When the car is not that good or not the fastest, he still provides the good lap in qualifying, or the good race, the good fight. He’s at a very good level, very high level.”
Although Verstappen has managed to come out ahead of the papayas in the previous rounds, the four-time champion still has a 63-point gap to close in six rounds.
Alonso recognised the battle as an uphill one for Verstappen. Still, he reminded the media that the Dutchman is not one to be ruled out.
“This year, he’s obviously fighting against a superior car, which is the McLaren,” Alonso highlighted.
“But if it comes to the last race and they are tight on points. Maybe in that moment, he becomes the man to follow.
“As I said before, I think the two McLarens have enough advantage over the car to fight between them.
“But, with Max, that can happen, as we saw in 2021 when the car was a little bit less performing than the Mercedes. He still won the championship in Abu Dhabi.”
The hunter or the hunted?
Verstappen has achieved titles by overcoming his competition in inferior machinery, while also securing the title in one of the most dominant cars of this era in F1.
Shedding light on the experience from both sides, Alonso divulged it’s better to be the hunted.
“I prefer to be leading the championship. If I’m leading the championship with the best car. I will not lose it,” he asserted.
The Spaniard equally told the media that leading the championship didn’t come with extra pressure in his opinion.
“No, I don’t think so. If you are not leading the championship by now, it’s because you didn’t have the best car,” he contended.
“So you need to wait for something unexpected, or a small miracle. Because you’ve been chasing the leader with not the best car by race 18 — or whatever it is now.
“So in the remaining six races, there is hope, but you need to have some help from the leaders.”
READ MORE – McLaren willing to risk losing F1 title to Max Verstappen to give drivers equal opportunity
Discussion about this post