Max Verstappen admits that he’s been a long-time admirer of Fernando Alonso and shares a close friendship with him.
Alonso has been full of praise towards Max Verstappen ever since the former’s return to the sport in 2021. It was clear from the get-go that the Alpine driver was backing Verstappen to win the World Title. He did end up winning the 2021 Championship, becoming the first Dutch driver to ever do so.
With the season now over, the 24-year-old has also complemented Alonso for being an inspiration to him when he was a kid. Verstappen commented on how the Spaniard’s driving style influenced him during his karting days.
Fernando Alonso – Max Verstappen
Blue Tide – Orange Army
Only drivers to have never been outscored by teammate in points over the course of them being teammates
Only race winner and world champions of their countries
Only drivers to beat 7x world champions in a straight fight pic.twitter.com/sf6azr45lv
— Aadarsh (@aadarshf1) December 12, 2021
Max also went on to say that the two of them have a good friendship, and lauded the latter’s attitude towards racing.
“At the moment, I have a really good friendship with Fernando because already, when I was still in go karting, I really liked his style.” said Verstappen.
“He’s also ‘never give up’ and a real fighter. Of course unfortunately now in the last few years he hasn’t been able to do that at the front. Just because he doesn’t have the car. ”
Also read: Max Verstappen comments on his strained relationship with Lewis Hamilton during the 2021 season
Alonso’s drive and desire at the age of 40 inspires Max Verstappen
Alonso is a 2-time World Champion himself, winning back to back titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006. But, as many drivers and pundits have said before, his records don’t speak for how good a driver he actually is, in spite of those 2 titles.
Verstappen for one, said he is inspired by the amount of work the former Ferrari man puts in despite his age.
“I like his attitude. He’s really on fire. And also his drive and motivation at his age, to still be there in Formula 1, wanting to be there for a longer time, and he always wants to win.” the Red Bull driver said.
“He always wants to do the best he can. For me, that’s really nice to see.”
Also read: Sebastian Vettel lauds Mick Schumacher for a promising rookie year in Formula 1
Max Verstappen hasn’t had any on track battles with the Oviedo born driver yet. That’s mainly because the two have been racing on different ends of the track in the sport. Max has been fighting for wins and Alonso has mainly been aiming for points.
The 2021 Champion admits that the relationship between them may be different if the two of them went neck to neck in a Title battle. However, he hopes that is the case because a driver of Alonso’s caliber certainly deserves a car that matches his ability.
