Alonso rates his rivals

[Mini1275]

What does Fernando Alonso think of his rivals on the Formula One grid? Who does he rate as the "fastest" or who is "calm and consistent"?

Alonso was asked by Spanish paper AS to give his opinion on his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, current World Champion Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton as well seven-time Champion Michael Schumacher.

Two-time Champion Alonso described Vettel as follows: "Very fast. Very fast and accurate. If he starts first in a race it is difficult to stop him."

Mark Webber, who finished third in the Drivers' Championship last year is "experienced, calm and consistent. It is very difficult to see him fail."

Alonso believes his former McLaren team-mate Hamilton is "a great driver and the fastest of the current Formula One grid" while Button "has a great instinct for difficult races in the rain or with the safety car in the dry".

As for Schumacher, Alonso says "he is the champion, we all respect him and he is a driver capable of surprising".

And his views on his team-mate Massa?

"Very quickly, he knows the team, he started with Sauber, but is now with Ferrari and very hungry to win."



http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/6754052/Alonso...

Interesting, not much praise for Massa

[Zod]

Alonso's real opinion:

"I am the best and the fastest and I don't rate any of the rest."

[Killer2005]

Zod said:

Alonso's real opinion:

"I am the best and the fastest and I don't rate any of the rest."

TBH I would be suprised if any of the top drivers didnt believe that

[Haytch]

Mini1275 said:

Alonso believes his former McLaren team-mate Hamilton is "a great driver and the fastest of the current Formula One grid"

Surprised at this comment from Alonso, does he include himself?

[Rich_W]

Haytch said:

Surprised at this comment from Alonso, does he include himself?

The media. Particularly the British sort. Would love for Fernando and Lewis to want to kill each other. Sadly for them, they settled their differences a while back. The problems Alonso had at McLaren were mainly due to Ron Dennis mismanaging the situation. (they've both admitted as such) but the media always hype it up and then all the internet "haters" jump on board and give the most complete driver on the grid a xenophobic kicking. In their defence, at least they are consistent in their BS. Schumacher got it. Senna got it, Prost got it...

[davepoth]

Haytch said:

Surprised at this comment from Alonso, does he include himself?

I think he probably does. How many championships would Lewis have won by now if he and his team hadn't made silly mistakes?

[hotmelt]

Haytch said:

Surprised at this comment from Alonso, does he include himself?

No, his rivals. Still pretty correct from Alonso, expected worse.

[LDN]

I don't think Alonso is BS'ing there... I think that he respects his rivals and that's a healthy thing in competition. And while he might think that Lewis is the fastest; that still doesn't mean he thinks that he's the most complete - most people regard Alonso as the most complete; the perfect compromise of all the qualities that he assigned to his peers.