Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso believes Lewis Hamilton won seven world titles due to having a “very dominant car for many years”; however, he still has a “lot of respect” for his former team-mate.
Alonso’s and Hamilton’s relationship is a bit of an odd one, with it having started on a terrible note in 2007 when they were partners at McLaren.
In 2007, the duo fought for the world title, with the pair having clashed several times as a result.
Kimi Raikkonen ultimately beat both of them to the 2007 crown, with Alonso having ditched the Woking-based after just one season.
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As they’ve gotten older and gone their separate ways, they have enjoyed some excellent battles; however, Hamilton has gone on to be considerably more successful.
Following his maiden title in 2008, Hamilton went on to claim six more world titles over a seven-year period, from 2014-2020.
As well as that, he broke the record for most wins and most pole positions, making him the most decorated driver in the history of F1.
For the majority of Hamilton’s dominant spell, Alonso was towards the back of the field, with his return to McLaren in 2015 having gone horribly wrong.
Having moved to Aston Martin, though, the 41-year-old is back towards the front amongst the likes of Hamilton, someone he continues to have a “lot of respect for”.
“I have a lot of respect for him. I think at the end of the day, we met in our careers [on] a few occasions,” Alonso told media.
“This year we fight closer together and with similar cars, especially at this part of the year. In Australia, we saw we were within two seconds the whole race and it was just a close fight.”
Whilst he does admit that Hamilton is “one of the best” in the history of the sport, Alonso thinks the Mercedes driver has been ‘lucky’, due to having had the best car for several years.
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“I still think that he is one of the best drivers in the sport, and at the same time he had the luck to have a very dominant car for many years,” Alonso said.
“So when you have a dominant car for many years, Michael [Schumacher] won seven [titles], Hamilton won seven, Max [Verstappen] will win three – let’s say this year – and how many more we don’t know. I won two and in F1 you always need the best car to win the championship.
“If Hamilton had any problem during those years in Mercedes, [Valtteri] Bottas would be five-times World Champion.”