Sky Sports F1 pundit and racing driver Naomi Schiff believes double world champion Fernando Alonso “might just trump” Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, if they all drove for the same team.
The thought of all three drivers in the same team is truly tantalising, with the trio boasting 11 world titles between them.
Alonso has certainly enjoyed an illustrious career in Formula 1, with the Spaniard having claimed 32 wins, the first of those coming back in 2003 at the Hungaroring.
Whilst he hasn’t enjoyed as much success as Hamilton or Verstappen, he’s always been considered as the very best, with the 41-year-old having a knack of extracting the absolute maximum from whatever car he’s driving.
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He’s done just that throughout his career, whether that’s been when driving for a team at the front, in the midfield, or at the back.
Alonso is very much back at the front this season, with the Aston Martin driver having claimed a rostrum on his debut for the team, making some believe that he could be a real outsider for the title.
Schiff believes Alonso is someone “you wouldn’t want to play chess with” given that he appears to always be “three steps ahead”.
With that in mind, whilst Hamilton and Verstappen are extraordinary drivers, Schiff would rather see either of them in her mirrors, rather than Alonso.
“Max is one of those [top] drivers,” she told the Sky Sports F1 vodcast.
“So is Lewis, but I don’t know, as I’ve grown up, always looking up to Lewis and as much as I grew up on karting circuits with Max, knowing that Max would win everything, I think Fernando might just trump them in the sense that he’s so much more mature.
“He’s been in it for so long. I think even last year, we could see it in the Alpine and that there were moments that he was just extracting the absolute maximum out of their car.
“In an on track battle, he always gets the one up somehow, he just always knows exactly where to put his car. So in my ideal world, I’d love to see them all in one team and who comes out on top.
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“When you’re on track, it’s a lot about demeanour and body language. And there are some drivers that you’ll have a clean battle with, there are some drivers you need to worry about and some drivers you need to be scared of. And I think Fernando is definitely one of those drivers that you have to give a lot of respect to.
“He’s the kind of the guy that you wouldn’t want to play chess with, because he’s always three steps ahead, and that’s just in everything he’s thinking about when he’s in the car. He knows where to put his car, he knows exactly where to make the moves, he knows exactly how to defend.
“He’s also just a very special driver. And I think every now and again, you get these kinds of drivers in all sorts of categories that just really stand out. And Fernando is most certainly one of those. So I just like to say I wouldn’t want to see Fernando coming up in my mirrors.”