Ex-F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve explains what makes Fernando Alonso different 

Jacques Villeneuve and Fernando Alonso were former rivals.

Ex-F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve explains what makes Fernando Alonso different 

Jacques Villeneuve and Fernando Alonso (Via IMAGO)

Fernando Alonso has been racing in Formula One for almost 22 years now. Despite being the oldest driver in the current F1 grid, the Spaniard is still one of the top-3 drivers. 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has come forth, acknowledging his fellow champions’ prowess and admitting that the Aston Martin star is his ‘favorite’ driver this season.

Alonso’s 2023 season with Aston Martin witnessed his recurrence after a drop in performance, first with McLaren and later with Alpine. He sits comfortably in the fourth position in the driver’s standings this year with 183 points. He leads his fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz by 30 points. He is the driver with the third most podium finishes this season behind champion Max Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez.

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Villeneuve has greatly appreciated the recent performance and his never-ending hunger for success, which makes him different from his current rivals.He believes the two-time World Champion attitude makes him a good role model for the children. Villeneuve said, as reported by soymotor.com, “I admire Fernando Alonso because he is still hungry for success.”

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Villeneuve also took a huge dig at AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo’s career and said that kids should not be like Daniel Ricciardo. He said, “I would ask children who want to be pilots in the future to do it out of passion and not to be like Daniel Ricciardo, just to laugh at commercials and commercial events.“

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What does Jacques Villeneuve think about other racers on the grid?

Looking at the other Spaniard, Carlos Sainz, on the grid, he also commented on Ferrari’s situation. He added that although Ferrari’s condition is not great, he likes what Sainz does. He feels that Sainz is always improving and that there are always tough times for a racer.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (Via IMAGO)
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton (Via IMAGO)

Villeneuve also commented on the dominant Red Bull racer Max Verstappen. He applauded the Dutchman for his impressive performance this year. He claimed that Verstappen has ‘no weaknesses.’ And he also added that Verstappen was ‘born to be a champion.’ This is the reason for his dominance so far, as Villeneuve said.

He added that Verstappen had inherited the racing passion from his father, Jos Verstappen. He added that although Jos was very hard on him, that shaped Verstappen to be the racer that he is today. Due to Jos, he was never really a child, and he was always the most mature racer on the grid.

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