“I was always ‘the bad guy'”– Fernando Alonso believes Max Verstappen being attacked by British media like he was in past

“I was always ‘the bad guy'”– Fernando Alonso believes The British media are crucifying max Verstappen like he was a decade ago.

Fernando Alonso alleges that Max Verstappen is facing the British bias against his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton this year, which the Spaniard faced while competing against Hamilton 13-14 years ago.

The 40-year-old driver responded to Verstappen’s FIA press conference by saying, “He is not British so it will always be more difficult for him, so let’s see.” Now, Alonso has further clarified this statement citing his experience with the British media.

“I don’t know… If things get a little hot or if the title fight is about to get tense, then it turns out this sport still a very British setting. Almost all teams are British, most of you journalists and TV crews are also British.”

“Thus is it explained that preference still goes clear to the guest from your own country , that he can keep winning,” Alonso said. “I’ve always had the feeling that when I was racing against British drivers it seemed like I was always ‘the bad guy’ [in the press].”

“At least that’s how they wanted to portray me. in Silverstone and also heard the questions Verstappen received from the British press afterwards, I could understand his position very well,” concludes Alonso.

Fernando Alonso admires Max Verstappen.

The Alpine driver has shown his admiration towards Verstappen in recent years, and this year also revealed that he only watched F1 in 2020 to see Verstappen’s performances, as he was impressed by his form.

Last year, Verstappen was the only threat to Mercedes hegemony and won two races to end up in P3 in the drivers’ championship standings. But this year, the 23-year-old driver has come out stronger as the seven-time world champion and aiming to win the championship.

If Max Verstappen does miss out on the title this year he definitely would not have lost out by his own means up to this point. Two incidents where he was completely faultless and a third where he can only take minor blame has cost him potentially 70 points already. pic.twitter.com/iBPvGum72K

— Taylor (@TPowling_) August 4, 2021

But the recent two crashes have certainly given him a major setback.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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