“Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc can’t be compared”- Fernando Alonso on why it will take time for Ferrari driver to match his contemporary.
Fernando Alonso is back on track to compete after a break of two years, as he will pair up with Esteban Ocon for Renault in 2021, and ahead of his return, he talked about the disparity in the sport.
Where he talked about how Max Verstappen is ahead of his contemporaries who are not in a car as superior to his, which obviously affects the final gulf between them.
“Mercedes will still win in 2021, Red Bull will take second place and it remains to be seen who comes in third. The real challenge is 2022,” said Alonso in an interview with Corriere Della Sera.
The Spanish driver accepts that to be successful in Formula 1, a driver needs to have a car with superior abilities, as he cites the example of George Russell.
“Russell’s case is exemplary in explaining F1. In five days, not a hundred, he went from last to first. All that without a divine touch, without meditating in Tibet or anything like that. All he had to do was get into a Mercedes”.
Can’t compare Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc
This is why Alonso thinks that it is pointless to compare between the two drivers, as Verstappen is the one who is behind the Mercedes pair instead of Charles Leclerc.
“If we think about who Hamilton and Bottas see the most in their rear-view mirror, it is of course Verstappen. Leclerc is an extraordinary talent, but we won’t be able to really compare them until a few years from now,” concludes Alonso.
While Leclerc had only a rare number of appearances at the podium this season, Verstappen managed to end up at the podium in every race he completed this season except for once, during the Turkish GP, where he ended P6.
