With the second championship, Fernando Alonso thinks Max Verstappen will be among the all-time greats and will only do better from here.
Max Verstappen is only a few steps away from winning the championship. If Charles Leclerc finished P8 or below and Sergio Perez finished below P4, then, Verstappen will go away with the title in Singapore.
However, it’s more likely that he will win in Japan. Therefore, with over four races to go in the season, the season would be wrapped up for the Dutchman, and with this, Fernando Alonso thinks he would be among the all-time greats.
Max Verstappen says he is not focusing on winning the Championship in Singapore 💭 pic.twitter.com/yg5cnL4WIv
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 29, 2022
“I think so, yes. He’s 24 or 25, no? So there’s still a lot in front of him,” said Alonso, when asked whether this title win would bring him among the sport’s greats.
However, Alonso was also a two-time world champion at this young age. But in the following years, he couldn’t fetch another F1 title. Thus, he wishes that Verstappen doesn’t see a similar type of misfortune. However, he admits things are only improving for the Red Bull star.
“I wish him more luck than me, because I was also 26 with those stats and still have the same stats at 40! But I’m sure with Red Bull and how things look for the future, he will only get better.”
Max Verstappen remained more consistent than Ferrari
The 2021 world champion had a strong competitor in Ferrari with Charles Leclerc. However, with the season unfolding, Red Bull got an edge over their rival and now enjoys a significant lead.
In this contest, Alonso doesn’t think that Red Bull had a better car than Ferrari. Rather he thinks, the Maranello-based team built a car at Red Bull’s level or maybe even better.
He concludes that Verstappen had more consistent performances over the course of the season. Therefore, he is very much a deserved winner of the 2022 title.
On the other hand, Leclerc was surely deprived of formidable strategies by Ferrari, which made him lose points drastically. Moreover, Ferrari’s reliability issues also crippled both drivers during the crucial races of the season.
Also read: Lando Norris hails 24-year-old Red Bull ace as of F1 history’s greatest drivers