Double World Champion Fernando Alonso has labelled Lewis Hamilton’s incredible Mercedes cars as a “key factor” to his unmatched success, with the seven-time World Champion holding the record for most wins and most pole positions in the history of Formula 1.
The Aston Martin driver’s comments come after Hamilton stated that Max Verstappen’s RB19 is the fastest F1 car he’s ever seen, something the Spaniard doesn’t “agree” with.
“He has a short memory. He’s getting old!” Alonso joked .
Alonso explained how at the start of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014, Hamilton and team-mate at the time Nico Rosberg used to claim a 1-2 by “a minute”, whilst the Spaniard was only “20 seconds behind” Sergio Perez and Verstappen at the recent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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“I don’t agree at all,” admitted Alonso.
“In Saudi, I finished 20 seconds behind Checo and Max. But Hamilton and Rosberg were a minute ahead in 2014 and 2015.”
Alonso and Hamilton don’t have the best of relationships due to the season they spent together at McLaren in 2007, which was, of course, the 38-year-old’s rookie season.
At the same time, Alonso was attempting to defend his 2006 world title, something he failed to do.
The pair clashed several times during 2007, with Alonso having ultimately ditched the Woking-based team for Renault in 2008.
Whilst discussing Hamilton’s comment about Red Bull being so quick, Alonso explained how Mercedes’ poor cars since the new aerodynamic regulations have proved that the 103-time race winner “has weaknesses”.
Alonso used his poor qualifying record against team-mate George Russell as an example, with the former Williams driver having out-qualified Hamilton at every round this season.
Alonso believes Hamilton’s cars are a “key” reason as to why he’s the “record holder for poles”, due to his struggles since Mercedes were no longer at the front.
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“With a normal car, you can see that he has weaknesses,” added Alonso, ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
“Before, he drove alone or sometimes with his teammate. He is the record holder for poles but Russell has just done 2-0 in qualifying this season.
“It just goes to show how much the car is still a key factor.”