Max Verstappen says he wants to see Fernando Alonso to convert his strong form into a race win this season.
Alonso returned to Formula 1 after two years out back in 2021 with Alpine, but it’s his move to Aston Martin this year that has put him in the frame for potential race victories again at the age of 41. Verst appen has won five of the seven grands prix so far this season and comfortably leads the championship, but said he would like to see Red Bull’s nearest challenger take a victory if he himself is unable to.
“I like him, he’s a real racer and I think he deserves it,” Verstappen said. “He never gave up, you can see he loves the sport, which…. sometimes, I think after so many years of having a car which is only capable of driving in the midfield, maybe you lose a bit of that love. He’s a real racer, an animal. If you ask me one driver who I would like to see win a race this year, it’s Fernando.”
Verstappen doesn’t believe Red Bull will be able to complete a clean sweep of the season despite winning every race so far, and having a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field to date.
“If you look at how we’re performing now yes, but it’s very unrealistic because there will always be things that go wrong in a season that are maybe sometimes out of your control,” he said.