Marcin Budkowski, the Alpine F1 Team’s executive director, has hailed Fernando Alonso’s “mind-blowing” race craft and speed.
The double World Champion returned to Formula 1 this season after a two-year hiatus, and after having a rather steady start to 2021t, he has been reminding everyone of his sheer pace in the last few races.
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And in Hungary, Alonso put on a brilliant defensive display as he held off a charging Sir Lewis Hamilton for 10 laps and thus helped his team-mate, Esteban Ocon, secure his maiden F1 victory.
Speaking this week, Budkowski hailed Alonso and said his professionalism reminds him of Michael Schumacher.
“I’ve worked with a number of drivers through a bit more than 20 years in F1 and he’s extremely impressive,” he said in an interview with The Race.
“He’s impressive in his approach, which is very, very professional. It reminds me a bit of Michael, to be honest, when I was at Ferrari and he was a benchmark in terms of how professional he was and how meticulous he was in his approach and I see that similar trait in Fernando.
“The other thing that blows me away is his race craft. It is mind-blowing almost because we are sat on the pit wall, we have all the data, we have full visibility on the race, he’s in the car driving at full speed and he has almost the same analysis of the race we have with nowhere near as much data or the ability to take a step back.
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“That’s the thing that impresses me the most. I guess it’s 20 years of experience in driving Formula 1 cars, perhaps.
“There’s not many drivers even with 20 years’ experience that would be capable of that,” he added.
Continuing, he said that Alonso “doesn’t feel like an old man ready to retire” and he is “hungry” for more success in the pinnacle of motorsport.
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