Fernando Alonso picks who is ‘a step above’ between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen

The Spaniard has analysed who, out of the F1 title rivals, stands out to him as the superior driver ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Jack Rathborn
Thursday 09 December 2021 15:44 GMT
Comments
Verstappen ‘Will Do Everything’ To Beat Lewis Hamilton

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Fernando Alonso has sided with Max Verstappen over Lewis Hamilton while assessing which Formula 1 title rival is the superior driver right now.

The Mercedes and Red Bull drivers meet one final time in the finale to the 2021 F1 season in Abu Dhabi.

But despite the Briton and Belgian-Dutch stars tied up on points in the Drivers’ Championship heading into Sunday, Alonso believes Verstappen “deserves” a maiden world title.

“Both of them are driving amazing and no mistakes and pushing the limits every race,” the two-time world champion said, as reported by Crash.

“You see that they are first and second in every race because they are at another level - so that’s fantastic to see how they push each other. But I don’t know, this final race is going to be tense for sure for them, we will see.

“It will depend on the package, a little bit. Mercedes I think are performing a little bit more now and they have won a couple of races since but Max is driving, in my opinion, one step ahead of all of us and we saw the lap in Jeddah until he touched the wall in the last corner.

“That lap was coming from Max, not the Red Bull I think, but that’s my opinion. Mercedes, they deserve the constructors’ championship because I think their car is superior and Max maybe overall in the year was driving one step ahead of everyone.

“It’s not that I support Max, I think he deserves it or he was driving, in my opinion as I said, everyone has a different opinion, I think he was driving that Red Bull to another level. I think no advice because they are very well prepared, they are committed, they are fast, they are professional, no mistakes, both of them driving at the limits so I think it’s very interesting to watch from the outside. They are very well prepared and that’s good.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in