Ex-Formula 1 driver David Kennedy believes Fernando Alonso should’ve claimed pole position recently at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he was narrowly beaten by reigning World Champion Max Verstappen.
Since switching from Alpine to Aston Martin, Alonso has been exceptional, with the Spaniard having claimed five podiums from the opening seven races.
As a result, he remarkably finds himself third in the Drivers’ Championship, behind both Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
As of yet, Alonso hasn’t quite had the pace to claim a race win nor a pole position, something he believed was achievable at the Circuit de Monaco.
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Alonso was on-track for pole position until Verstappen delivered one of the most exceptional final sectors ever seen at Monaco, demoting the 41-year-old to second on the grid.
Despite the fact it took an unbelievable lap to beat him, Kennedy is convinced that Alonso should’ve done better.
“I think he had a car that could have put it on pole in Monaco,” Kennedy told PlanetF1.com.
“It was just that last several hundredths of a second.”
The Spaniard converted his P2 start into a season best P2 finish at the Principality, 28 seconds behind Verstappen.
Kennedy simply believes that Alonso isn’t as quick as he once was due to his age, something the Irishman admits is just “nature’s way”.
“It is just nature’s way and you can’t beat it,” Kennedy said.
“There are drivers and whether they take it on one, two, or even three years – it just slips away. We’ve seen it time and time again over the years. It’s a hard fact but that’s nature’s course.”
Despite Alonso having naturally lost pace in Kennedy’s eyes, the ex-F1 driver admits that it took a “Senna-esque” lap from Verstappen to defeat the Aston Martin driver to pole in Monaco.
Verstappen’s Monaco pole lap was rated as “rare” by Kennedy, with it being a “lap of the gods”.
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“I don’t use the word lightly, it was Senna-esque,” Kennedy added.
“What we saw in Monaco was truly a lap of the greats. It’s rare that you see performances like that. Only those who sat at the side of a corner watching Senna throw the car, drifting and controlling the throttle to take it to its absolute limit.
“It’s flabbergasting to behold. It truly wasn’t his car, I think for that weekend, or his race, but that performance made it. The chips were down and he knew what he had to do. Even though the first two segments didn’t really nail it, the last segment was just outstanding and clearly a lap of the gods.