‘Still have the same stats at 40 as at 26’: Fernando Alonso wishes ‘all-time great’ Max Verstappen ‘more luck’ than he had
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Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso
Max Verstappen’s career is in the best place it has ever been. After winning his first championship last year – by defeating a seven-time world champion in Lewis Hamilton no less, he is now well on his way to securing a second championship, and in what a fashion as well.
If Max Verstappen wins the race with the fastest lap here, and Charles Leclerc finishes 8th or lower, the championship will be his with 5 rounds to go. No one would have really expected this at the start of the season, especially with how strong Leclerc and Ferrari seemed. But the Italian team have made mistakes aplenty and paid dearly for them.
Fernando Alonso is a name still revered among fans as one of the best drivers on the grid. Like Verstappen, he had also won 2 straight championships and ended an era of domination by a driver who many consider the greatest of all time (for him, it was Michael Schumacher). But after that, he did not win another championship, and the Spaniard warned Verstappen of the same potential fate.
Fernando Alonso on Red Bull & Max Verstappen: ‘The best team and the best driver’
If Max Verstappen triumphs in Singapore, he will have one more thing in common with Fernando Alonso – they will both be at 32 wins. While both can extend their respective tallies, the Dutchman is much more likely to do this, considering the situations at their teams and their ages.
The Spaniard feels Verstappen’s second championship will put him against the all-time greats but wishes the latter more luck than he had: “I think so, yes. He’s 24 or 25, no? So there’s still a lot in front of him, but 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.”
Alonso, as per CRASH, digresses that Verstappen and Red Bull wrapping up the title soon is an inevitability: “It’s very well deserved. They were the best team and the best driver by far, so when they win it I don’t think is an important thing, it’s just that they will. Whether it’s here or Japan, let’s see.”
Alonso also felt that it was not as if Red Bull (always) had the superior car: Ferrari had a very fast car as well, but Red Bull and Max Verstappen were just better than all the others in all required departments. They are about to reap the rewards for that soon enough.
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