Fernando Alonso has been all over the news after a blistering start to the 2023 season for him and Aston Martin. However, the Alonso name has been a mainstay among F1 fans for over 20 years. The two-time world champion is one of the greatest drivers of all time and has been part of some of the sport’s most iconic moments.
There are other legendary figures in the current F1 grid like Alonso’s former teammate and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Another driver who is on his way to the top of the list of all-time greats is Max Verstappen. The 25-year-old is already a 2-time champion and has won more races than Alonso.
According to Naomi Schiff, however, Alonso is clear of Hamilton and Verstappen in terms of racing ability. The former W-series driver insists that the Spaniard is more mature than his counterparts and when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing, his genius is unparalleled.
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Fernando Alonso knows how to maximize his car’s ability
It has been a long time since Alonso has driven for a team that was able to challenge for races on a consistent basis. His last race in F1 came in 2013 at the Spanish Grand Prix when he was driving for Ferrari. Alonso moved to McLaren after that, a team that was struggling at the wrong end of the grid.
After the 2018 season, Alonso took a two-year hiatus following which he returned to the sport with Alpine. However, he was racing for a midfield team once again and his aim of pushing for wins wasn’t fulfilled. According to Schiff, even when Alonso wasn’t fighting at the front, he was a class apart.
“I think even last year, we could see it in the Alpine and that there were moments that he was just extracting the absolute maximum out of their car,” she said to Sky Sports F1. “In an on-track battle, he always gets the one up somehow, he just always knows exactly where to put his car.”
Does Alonso have a chance of returning to the front in 2023?
The 2023 season went off to a great start for Alonso and his new team, Aston Martin. The Silverstone-based outfit fielded the second-fastest car in terms of race pace, and Alonso took full advantage of that. After passing Hamilton, he took advantage of Ferrari’s reliability and tyre degradation issues to move to P3.
Alonso’s podium finish in Bahrain was his 99th, in his illustrious career and if the AMR-23 is able to keep up the pace with the front runners, we can expect him to add many more to that list.
