Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Interlagos, 2018

Verstappen regrets not having chance to race Alonso

2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen says he wished he’d had the chance to race properly with Fernando Alonso during his F1 career.

Alonso will start his final planned F1 race for McLaren today. The pair first appeared in the same race at Sepang in 2015, but as Verstappen explained their paths have seldom crossed on-track.

“It’s a bit of a shame, I never really raced against him. Of course he was in F1 but I never really had a fight with him because he’s always been in the back because of the issues they’ve had.

“That’s one thing I regret: I’ve been racing against Seb [Vettel], I’ve been racing with Lewis [Hamilton] already and that’s been nice but never with Fernando. Back in the day when I was watching TV he was always the one really fighting them as well.

“Of course it’s nice that I race with him but I never fought against him, which is a shame.”

Verstappen said he doesn’t have a relationship with Alonso outside F1 but there is respect between the two of them. “He’s always been super-nice to me and I really appreciate that.”

Valtteri Bottas said he considered Alonso a “legend” when he watch him win the world championship for Renault in 2005 and 2006.

“The main things I remember as a kid watching him winning the championships, he was kind of a legend at that time,” said Bottas in response to a question from RaceFans.

“Now I’ve been racing him for a while. He’s always a tough guy to race with. A little bit less so the last couple of years with such a difference between the performance in the cars

“But he’s a racer, he loves racing. I’m sure he’s going to carry on driving. He’s had a long career in Formula 1, achieved a lot, I respect his skills and that he shares the same passion as all of us.”

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8 comments on “Verstappen regrets not having chance to race Alonso”

  1. He did provoke a rant from Alonso though. Not at him, but at a certain Japanese manufacturer.

    1. Which Max will use next year, and if it isn’t worse than the Renault it will likely yield a couple of wins.

      Fernando and Max are using the same engine now, and still they are in no position to fight. Imagine that. Shame on you, McLaren.

  2. If the midfield is now F1.5, perhaps the McLaren’s have been.. GP2?
    Wherever Alonso takes his trademark whirlwind of talent, chaos and politics in the coming years it will no doubt make a fascinating read. Will Max one day surpass his many achievements? Only time will tell.

  3. This is such a sick burn i am literally tearing up from surpressed laughter

  4. The aggressive young joyrider added “I had dreamed of running Fernando off the road and angrily blaming him on the radio, before chasing him around the pit lane and headbutting him in the face, but I guess some things were not to be. He didn’t see me anyway… you expect me to shake his hand?!”.

  5. Actually Verstappen did race him in Australia this year.. And finished behind him IIRC.. but yeah..I get Max’s point.

    1. Yes, I was surprised about both haas and alonso’s mclaren being able to hold red bulls behind, thinking they had done something like halving the gap to the tops, I knew red bull had extra pace, but I underestimated the difficulty of overtaking in melbourne.

      Coupled with the very bad development by mclaren along the year and it was no longer possible to defend from top cars.

  6. I dont see any racing from Verstappen , how many times did he make contact in this single race ? Is this racing at all – if it is I dont see a point in following F1 anymore. Irrelevant of position on the track – first , last , behind or infront – contact is there . Verstapen will cross the racing line in his own way, completely disrespecting other pilots. I said in 2015 – he will have a huge crash and it will come soon ( Crash with Ricciardo in Baku 2018 was no less dangerous ).

    Even if he wins WC in the future , if his his dirty driving doesnt change , he will be no match to champions from the past .

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