Fernando Alonso is still one of the best in F1, despite being 41 years old. At this age, the Spanish driver has added six podiums to his name and is hungry for more. Alonso’s never give up attitude caught the attention of Michael Andretti, who is trying to get into F1 and believes that Alonso is the most complete driver in the grid, above Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen.
After returning to the sport with Alpine in 2021, the two-time world champion has shown that he has age-defying skills. Even though his first two seasons went a bit underwhelming, the 2023 F1 season saw a major resurgence, with Alonso P3 in the drivers’ championship after 10 rounds.
With a car that is capable of winning races consistently, very few people doubt that Alonso can fight for the world championship once again. Furthermore, the Ovied0-born driver’s superiority in his performance can be viewed by comparing his results to that of teammate, Lance Stroll. After ten races, Alonso picked up 137 points, whereas Stroll has only 44, and is in P8 in the standings.
Andretti is full of appraisal for Fernando Alonso
Alonso has previously worked under Andretti in Andretti Autosport in the US. This was back in 2017 when the Aston Martin star was trying to win the Indy 500 and had his eyes on the triple crown in motorsport. Hence, the American is fully aware of his ex driver’s capabilities, and praised him highly.
Speaking about this as per Motorsport Netherlands, the 60-year-old said, “He [Fernando Alonso] is the complete driver. He is not only fast, but also intelligent.”
Fernando Alonso – McLaren Andretti Autosport Honda continues practising at the Indianapolis speedway, USA #IndyCar #Indy500 #Indianapolis pic.twitter.com/dKHNdOcmyX
— Motorsport Images (@MSI_Images) May 17, 2017
“He impressed me working with us in Indianapolis. Theoretically, he had to gain confidence in the car. But he was on top of everything else: ‘How am I supposed to do the pit stops? How are the restarts?’ He was on top of all those little details. That impressed me. As a team boss, he is the most complete driver you could wish for,” Andretti added.
Andretti’s entry into F1 will certainly make things very interesting for the grid. It could allow him to work with Alonso once again, while enabling talents like Colton Herta too, who has failed to find his break in F1 so far.
What’s stopping Andretti from entering F1?
Despite repeated tries, Andretti is finding it increasingly difficult to join the F1 grid. The team principals of the existing 10 teams in particular, have been very skeptical about giving their nod of approval for a new outfit to join them.
Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali said as per The Race, that if Andretti Global wants to enter the sport, they would need to acquire an existing team. Otherwise, the other ten teams will not allow this since this will dilute the profit percentage.
However, after the latest rejection of Andretti’s F1 entry bid and no nominal entry in the next two years, the team is still eyeing to enter when the new regulations roll down in 2026.
