Former F1 team boss lauds Fernando Alonso while slamming Lewis Hamilton’s ‘motivation’

Joan Villadelprat, formerly a team manager of the Benetton F1 team, has praised Fernando Alonso's 'desire', and drew a contrast with Lewis Hamilton.

Former F1 team boss lauds Fernando Alonso while slamming Lewis Hamilton’s ‘motivation’

Fernando Alonso (L) | Lewis Hamilton (R)

There’s always going to be a cloud hanging over Fernando Alonso’s career, of ‘what could have been’. This would be the case even if he wins his third (or more) championships in the upcoming years. This is because, on talent, many would consider him the equal of someone like Lewis Hamilton. But the Briton has 7 championships, while Alonso ‘only’ has two.

He narrowly lost out on three more championships, each time by less than 5 points. Then, there are of course some ‘questionable’ career decisions. The most commonly cited one, of course, is him banking on McLaren in 2015. He spent four seasons there and did not step on the podium even one single time. His highest championship finish in that stint was only 10th, in 2016.

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But even now, there’s no doubt that he’s one of the best drivers on the grid. He has been proving this in 2023, now finally in a ‘competitive’ car with Aston Martin. And there’s no question about his motivation – he still wants to win titles. Joan Villadelprat, a former team manager, has praised his motivation – while drawing a contrast with Hamilton.

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As per PlanetF1.com, he said: “One has won seven, and the other two, and Fernando knows that he could have won more, that he has the potential to be ahead of Hamilton. Except that Fernando’s choices were not correct and Hamilton was right. But the desire that Fernando has… The best of all is that now people recognise him, Formula 1, and other drivers – they recognize him as a phenomenon.”

Read More: F1 legend puts Fernando Alonso in the same bracket as two tennis ‘GOATs’

‘Fernando Alonso is winning Formula 1 by far’

Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso

After leaving the sport at the end of 2018, Fernando Alonso then came back with Alpine in 2021. And there was no doubt about it – he still had ‘it’ in him. By his own standards, 2021 was lukewarm. But in 2022, despite constantly coming up against reliability (and other) issues, he cemented his status as still being one of the best. He’s adding to his ‘legend’ in 2023. On this, Joan Villadelprat said: “If Fernando hadn’t come back, his story would have been forgotten with a title or two.”

The Spaniard added: “But being in Formula 1, at his age, when he has a good car, taking what he is taking, how he is physically, enormous, and mentally he is brutal. When Fernando beats a driver, he is happy that he is the one who wins. Now you don’t have a word against Fernando, he’s not a bully driver. [He] is winning Formula 1 by far. Not only because of the results but because he does not fail either.”

It’ll be interesting to see what Alonso can do for the rest of the season. The first three races have given him three podiums, all of them P3 finishes. He’d be looking to get that elusive 33rd win, of course. At this stage, it looks unlikely that will truly compete for the title, but he could still notch up race wins. That would seem to be the goal. Lewis Hamilton, too, will be looking for a win – he had to go the entirety of 2022 without one, after all.

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