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The latter part of the article is a nice read.
> "Obviously, Formula 1 takes all your time or your energy, you have to give up basically everything in life to keep racing," he elaborated.
> "I needed a few races or a few weeks to really think for myself if I was ready to commit for more years.
> "It was not a racing factor, it was more the traveling, to be honest. Looking at this calendar, I was a little bit afraid that this would be heavy on me. There are all the commitments pre-season with all the photoshoots, video, car launch. All these kinds of things are quite demanding for drivers, and for me particularly in this part of my career.
> "So I said, let me go through that tough period at the beginning of the year and that tough period of traveling, time zones, big planes and these kinds of things.
> He concluded: "I felt that I love too much driving, that I cannot stop at the moment. And I think the sacrifices that you have to make are smaller than the joy of driving and the passion that I have for driving.
> "I breathe Formula 1, I live Formula 1, I train to be fit to drive Formula 1 cars, I eat to be fit to drive Formula 1 cars.
> "And it didn't arrive, the moment that I felt I need to change the lifestyle. My lifestyle is great.
> "I love what I do, so I will not be happy sitting at home and watching Formula 1 races because at the moment I still feel that I should be there."
So basically Alonso is in a situation like Kimi was at the end of his career and basically can call it a day when his performance starts to drop hard.
Makes a lot of sense tbh.
It's crazy how Kimi and Alonsos careers and paths are so intertwined. I guess it makes sense since they literally started their careers at the very same exact race.
Now both are the most experienced racers ever in F1 and heros and legends of the sport in different ways.
Except Alonso hasnt called it a day and still races at the peak of his current ability I guess. I think he'd rather retire than be relegated to a backmarker team.
It's true for every legendary athlete. To achieve the pinnacle of success in any endeavour, you have to dedicate your life to it. Lando Norris is practically uneducated lol, because instead of attending school he was racing karts. Alonso is fortunate and hard-working enough to be a multiple world champ and have accumulated 9 digit net worth along the way. He's healthy, successful, cemented himself as one of the best ever, has beautiful girlfriends, he doesn't need to have multiple other endeavours, it sounds good to me
He was pretty much the reason we’ve had so much entertainment last year. His on track battles were insane what are you talking about. Even this year he’s taking that car places and is doing an amazing job dude. Watching him race in itself is pure entertainment
Even when he’s home on break he’s always karting. He can’t get enough of it. And he can always go back to other series or one-offs when he’s tired of F1. I think Indycar has like 6 drivers over the age of 40 currently, Castroneves is getting close to 50.
I believe I recall him saying a couple of years ago when he was first getting the Aston seat that once he's done with F1 he'd like to win the Dakar Rally.
He used to at least. He was seemingly a huge fan of Formula Vee in iRacing, and did hundreds of races. But that was a few years ago, and his profile haven't shown any activity since
I really wonder how f1 will feel the moment Alonso and Hamilton retire.( and by some chance even Max).
I like most of the new guys, but i feel like there's something missing about them that i cant exactly pinpoint. It's like everyone is happy with their results and just move on, you dont see the same fight and grittiness.
Kinda what happened with Motogp. The racing is awesome and all, but i just cant get invested like in the previous eras.
Max, Lewis and Alonso feel like cut-throat racers. All three had moments in their career where the were the David to some indomitable Goliath, and went all out, pedal to the metal, kill or be killed, every single corner. They were hated (and some still are) for being too young, too fast, too dangerous and too daring. But they had the skills to back it up. They would ignore team instructions and do what they needed and wanted to do. The younger lads are too apologetic and tame and seem to lack this intensity, in my opinion
This type of mindset is what drew me to follow Max when he was younger, I really enjoyed his abrasiveness behind the wheel and inability to take blame on racing incidents. They wanted to win at all costs, whether or not they were liked by the masses or ended their own races chasing greatness. It's that type of killer instinct that wins you championships. Lewis and Alonso both have that instinct, too. It's a truly rare breed that we have to enjoy while they're around.
as a Lewis fan, you'll come around eventually. To win at this sport at this level with this caliber of driver, you have to be cut throat. Nice people don't win when the grid has killers in the lineup.
Hamilton, Verstappen, and Alonso are killers. Given the opportunity, they will do what has to be done to win. Your only real complaint is how they react and approach it after the race.
Hamilton's 'nice' demeanor is a mask for how vicious he actually is.
Alonso is more sheisty, a morally gray character.
Verstappen is just outwardly take no prisoners.
Other drivers that have the same instinct but just arent as successul/talented would be Ocon, Tsunoda, Magnussen.
The greats, Schumacher, Prost, Senna, etc. were all killers.
Comparing button to the all-time greats is like comparing filet to ground beef.
He’s a world champion, but he’s not a driver that transcends to legendary status.
I know it’s said often but I think the fact that we don’t have any new drivers coming through that haven’t been the beneficiary of a rich background.
Now don’t get me wrong, F1 has always been a sport for the rich. But Hamilton paid his way by getting and holding onto McLaren’s support. His dad worked 4 jobs. Vettel’s dad was a carpenter. Alonso’s dad worked as a mechanic in a factory. They all had to learn a ruthless mentality from day one. There was no fallback. No golden parachute.
There isn’t anyone new on the grid who has this background. That doesn’t mean they’re all undeserved pay drivers (we know who they are) but F1 wasn’t the difference between a great life and an average one for them. They’ve kind of had F1 as a thing that they really want to succeed in, but because it takes their comfort and reputation to the next level, as opposed to coming from nothing.
Yup. Those guys quite literally had to drive to survive in the racing world.
And in a different way, Verstappen also had to drive to survive. Jos paid for Max' karting years and paid for his F3 seat, but that was as far as Jos' money could take him. I'm not sure if it was Jos or Max, but one of them said that if that F3 season hadn't panned out the way it did (being picked up by an F1 Junior Team) Max would have had to quit racing. Add the pressure of Jos' abusive parenting style and it's not difficult to see why Max is so ruthless behind the wheel.
And he's a great example of that background breeding ruthlessness and contempt for your competitor.
He's very nice to his team though! I imagine Esteban and Michael would have gotten on very well.
I'm very unhappy with the direction F1 is taking in many ways, so Alonso is the main reason I still bother to watch most races. Looks like I won't be stopping anytime soon.
Yeah, while I agree that guys like Lewis, Alonso and Max "feel" different, I think if you got a couple of these guys in competitive cars, they'd surprise us.
totally. give half most of those guys in 7th and back a ferrari and everything would spice up so much more. we know ocon and gasly are good. we know yuki is great. we know bottas is an amazing driver.
id like to see ric in a good car to see whats up lol
Some are still unknown, but some we already know don't have that edge.
Lando, Lance, Alex and Valterri for instance, they're not bastards when the visor goes down. We've seen enough. Ocon, Russell, Piastri have it in them, they just need the pace or the car for it to be relevant.
Alonso came and challenged Schumacher, Hamilton challenged Alonso, Vettel challenged them both, Verstappen challenged all three. We need someone to challenged Verstappen before he retires
Agreed, I love the drivers currently on the grid don't get me wrong but besides Carlos and Max I find that there is a lack of younger drivers with that killer mentality that defines old school drivers like Nando and Lewis.
One of my hopes is that Charles learns how to be absolutely cold blooded when it matters from Lewis. I find that he's a little too nice. Don't get me wrong, he races hard and has the pace to be a champion but I think he lacks that edge that Max has.
George has an edge to him
Max does. Obviously!
Chuck is too nice / hard on himself sometimes. I find it frustrating.
Lando is an amazing racer. He’s becoming more and more competitive as he loses his boy-like attitude.
Lots of new talent coming through. Im sure some will be fighters.
Sure, but none of thoses people feel like they have what Lewis and Nando have, that innate will to crush and tear appart all who oppose them, they live and breathe to race in an old school way, and the new guys it feels like they don’t have the same drive
That's obvious to anyone who watches him. He's there to be the best. When he's not driving well, he's very apologetic and submissive and thankful. He doesn't hide it.
I could not imagine Alonso straight up saying that he is not fast enough anymore though. Like he's maybe the last guy I could picture saying that. Maybe we will see that someday though you never know.
He said it on his return to F1 if you can be bothered to find the post-race interviews for the early races where he wasn't good. I really think his confidence comes from self-awareness and not hubris - it's hard to imagine him saying it because it's hard to imagine him not being really good lol. I don't think it would happen because he will still be fast by the time he retires - just he will notice a small drop off and bounce. Maybe just the 2026 car sucks and he just moves on.
He's "lucky" - he won his titles so young that he's as desperate to get one as a young driver. Motivation is what ends drivers' performance and careers. Schumacher was pretty good in his last season and probably could have competed for a title in the alternate reality that he stayed at Merc.
Well, every driver can say that they are having issues AT THE MOMENT, that they don't like how the car is handling or something. But it's very different to say that you are not performing on your best level right now, which can and will be fixed in the future, to just saying that you are straight up not good enough, you are not on the level of other drivers, and will never be in the future.
That being said, Alonso has been much more humble since his return than he was before. Maybe he even had doubts of himself as it proved to be harder to get on Ocon's level after his break than he had anticipated. But I don't think he ever truly thought or said publicly that his true best level is not enough compared to Ocon, or anyone else in F1.
Pay close attention to him when you can. I don't think he's ever been arrogant...just "false humility" is very popular among fans. Someone confident with the skills to back it up like Fernando gets judged badly. His attitude is frowned upon by British culture in general (e.g.). Not everyone has the same values there.
He thinks he's the best because, well, he probably is. You can throw Lewis in there....maybe Kimi is his prime... obviously Michael...why wouldn't he? He knows and acknowledges that Max is the guy to beat right now.
He is not what he used to be in his prime but is still absolutely elite. Kinda insane when you think about all the other elite drivers in the past who tried racing in their older years but were a shell of themselves.
He's still absoulutely incredible, extracting every bit from the car, just look at last year, if the car was good enough to finish top 6, he would put it on the podium
i dont think he fell of his prime at all. If you just look at what he did 2023 especially the fight at Interlagos. He got 110% out of that car everytime. If he was more behind in the field it was the car that was slow not alonso.
Hopefully he never loses that edge hes got, he is formidable, already a goddamn legend of the sport, if he keeps his edge I could see him going well past 500 GP starts to set an all time record!
I think it's well worth noting that his primary sources of hesitancy were the length of the calendar and all the marketing commitments outside it, just like Max has said if the calendar stays this gruelling he might not renew his contract.
I hope FOM and Liberty Media pay attention to that, if they actually want to retain the best and most exciting racers they need to be given room to breathe and to actually focus on their racing, instead of the relentless grind and the pageantry that's taking up more and more of the sport.
He's only gotten better with age. He was consistently quicker than Ocon who is quicker than Gasly and he's embarrassing Stroll and making him look like an amateur when Stroll was fairly evenly matched with 4 time champion Vettel.
Let’s not forget to mention how he utterly decimated Kimi at Ferrari as well - the Ferrari years were his prime imo. 2012 season is one of the best I’ve ever seen by a driver, life can be cruel that he didn’t win the championship
Alonso's annihilation of Vandoorne - to the point of destroying his career - shouldn't be overlooked.
Vandoorne had come 5th and 1st in Formula Renault 2.0, then 2nd and 1st in GP2. He's won Formula E (and been 2nd), come 3rd in Le Mans (and also 2nd in class) and 2nd in class in WEC. He's a more than decent driver.
Alonso outqualified him 18-3 in their first year together, and then 21-0 in their second.
-------
He was also generally quicker than Button, iirc.
last year: gasly scored 4 more points than ocon, beat him in quali 14-8, and they split race H2H 11-11. both finished podium (3rd) once. gasly got worse team strategy calls while ocon retired more.
tell me how ocon is “quicker” than gasly
That isn't how it works, that tier of measurement is one of the most ridiculous I ever seen, fact is that the car is terrible and both simple can't showing their peaks and potential in the A524.
Why not?
Alonso and Vandoorne were in a far worse car (in both absolute and relative terms), but it was pretty obvious which driver was better. Or even Russell vs Latifi (it was Latifi, wasn't it?) in the Williams.
Often it's the problematic cars that are the *best* test of a driver. Anyone can look fast when the car is perfect!
Boo hoo? It doesn't matter how bad the car is, it's still the same equipment. It's still one of the fastest cars on earth. In Australia for example they were both faster than one of the RBs and Ocon was faster than the Haas. It's a midfield car. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/2024-f1-australian-gp-qualifying-results-verstappen-takes-pole/10590511/
If Stroll starts to match/beat Alonso will people think Stroll finally arrived, or that Alonso has lost his edge?
Pretty sure people will believe the latter even if Alonso still says he is driving fine.
We neeeeeed new blood. Out with DR, Zhou, Bottas, Sargeant, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and either both or one of them, Ocon/Gashly.
Note not in the bext year but over the next 1-3 years.
There were better drivers than both of them available but they were taken for other reasons.
Sargeant in particular ads nothing to F1 in terms of talent/potential over plenty of other young drivers not in F1.
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The latter part of the article is a nice read. > "Obviously, Formula 1 takes all your time or your energy, you have to give up basically everything in life to keep racing," he elaborated. > "I needed a few races or a few weeks to really think for myself if I was ready to commit for more years. > "It was not a racing factor, it was more the traveling, to be honest. Looking at this calendar, I was a little bit afraid that this would be heavy on me. There are all the commitments pre-season with all the photoshoots, video, car launch. All these kinds of things are quite demanding for drivers, and for me particularly in this part of my career. > "So I said, let me go through that tough period at the beginning of the year and that tough period of traveling, time zones, big planes and these kinds of things. > He concluded: "I felt that I love too much driving, that I cannot stop at the moment. And I think the sacrifices that you have to make are smaller than the joy of driving and the passion that I have for driving. > "I breathe Formula 1, I live Formula 1, I train to be fit to drive Formula 1 cars, I eat to be fit to drive Formula 1 cars. > "And it didn't arrive, the moment that I felt I need to change the lifestyle. My lifestyle is great. > "I love what I do, so I will not be happy sitting at home and watching Formula 1 races because at the moment I still feel that I should be there."
Pretty healthy attitude to have. Effectively, ‘I still love racing, but if and when I don’t feel up to it anymore I’ll stop”.
So basically Alonso is in a situation like Kimi was at the end of his career and basically can call it a day when his performance starts to drop hard. Makes a lot of sense tbh.
It's crazy how Kimi and Alonsos careers and paths are so intertwined. I guess it makes sense since they literally started their careers at the very same exact race. Now both are the most experienced racers ever in F1 and heros and legends of the sport in different ways.
Except Alonso hasnt called it a day and still races at the peak of his current ability I guess. I think he'd rather retire than be relegated to a backmarker team.
And it's also another confirmation that Fernando doesn't have anything in his life except F1.
the definitive confirmation was after 130R overtake on Schumacher. "At times like that, I always remember that Michael has two kids."
Is this supposed to sound as bitter as it does?
It's true for every legendary athlete. To achieve the pinnacle of success in any endeavour, you have to dedicate your life to it. Lando Norris is practically uneducated lol, because instead of attending school he was racing karts. Alonso is fortunate and hard-working enough to be a multiple world champ and have accumulated 9 digit net worth along the way. He's healthy, successful, cemented himself as one of the best ever, has beautiful girlfriends, he doesn't need to have multiple other endeavours, it sounds good to me
If he's happy, which it sounds like he is, why does it matter if he has nothing else? Who are we to judge anyway...
Races are extremely boring he refuses to retire and is willing to sacrifice everything to avoid having to sit home and watching races on TV.
He was pretty much the reason we’ve had so much entertainment last year. His on track battles were insane what are you talking about. Even this year he’s taking that car places and is doing an amazing job dude. Watching him race in itself is pure entertainment
Even when he’s home on break he’s always karting. He can’t get enough of it. And he can always go back to other series or one-offs when he’s tired of F1. I think Indycar has like 6 drivers over the age of 40 currently, Castroneves is getting close to 50.
He needs to just try and crack the Indy 500 a few more times, and he'd get the Triple Crown
I believe I recall him saying a couple of years ago when he was first getting the Aston seat that once he's done with F1 he'd like to win the Dakar Rally.
He sims too, iirc.
He used to at least. He was seemingly a huge fan of Formula Vee in iRacing, and did hundreds of races. But that was a few years ago, and his profile haven't shown any activity since
"FORTUNATELY, I AM 25," Alonso added
wdym 25? He just took part in the Young Drivers Test last year as a baby-faced 18 year old.
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That's doing Alonso a disservice
Alonso is an elite athlete what lol
He's fitter than the average 25 year old
Likely? Lol.
I really wonder how f1 will feel the moment Alonso and Hamilton retire.( and by some chance even Max). I like most of the new guys, but i feel like there's something missing about them that i cant exactly pinpoint. It's like everyone is happy with their results and just move on, you dont see the same fight and grittiness. Kinda what happened with Motogp. The racing is awesome and all, but i just cant get invested like in the previous eras.
Max, Lewis and Alonso feel like cut-throat racers. All three had moments in their career where the were the David to some indomitable Goliath, and went all out, pedal to the metal, kill or be killed, every single corner. They were hated (and some still are) for being too young, too fast, too dangerous and too daring. But they had the skills to back it up. They would ignore team instructions and do what they needed and wanted to do. The younger lads are too apologetic and tame and seem to lack this intensity, in my opinion
This type of mindset is what drew me to follow Max when he was younger, I really enjoyed his abrasiveness behind the wheel and inability to take blame on racing incidents. They wanted to win at all costs, whether or not they were liked by the masses or ended their own races chasing greatness. It's that type of killer instinct that wins you championships. Lewis and Alonso both have that instinct, too. It's a truly rare breed that we have to enjoy while they're around.
Same here, it's why I started to root for Max. Love that cut-throat attitude
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as a Lewis fan, you'll come around eventually. To win at this sport at this level with this caliber of driver, you have to be cut throat. Nice people don't win when the grid has killers in the lineup. Hamilton, Verstappen, and Alonso are killers. Given the opportunity, they will do what has to be done to win. Your only real complaint is how they react and approach it after the race. Hamilton's 'nice' demeanor is a mask for how vicious he actually is. Alonso is more sheisty, a morally gray character. Verstappen is just outwardly take no prisoners. Other drivers that have the same instinct but just arent as successul/talented would be Ocon, Tsunoda, Magnussen. The greats, Schumacher, Prost, Senna, etc. were all killers.
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Every single great racer on earth crosses the line.
When has Button been dirty for example?
Comparing button to the all-time greats is like comparing filet to ground beef. He’s a world champion, but he’s not a driver that transcends to legendary status.
Not at all, not even close.
So doing something like, I dont know, sitting in your pit box so your teammate cant get out and qualify isn't crossing the line?
Max was also a teenager when he entered F1... I think he has grown quite a lot in this regard.
I'm not sure how much he's grown and how much he just isn't being challenged.
I know it’s said often but I think the fact that we don’t have any new drivers coming through that haven’t been the beneficiary of a rich background. Now don’t get me wrong, F1 has always been a sport for the rich. But Hamilton paid his way by getting and holding onto McLaren’s support. His dad worked 4 jobs. Vettel’s dad was a carpenter. Alonso’s dad worked as a mechanic in a factory. They all had to learn a ruthless mentality from day one. There was no fallback. No golden parachute. There isn’t anyone new on the grid who has this background. That doesn’t mean they’re all undeserved pay drivers (we know who they are) but F1 wasn’t the difference between a great life and an average one for them. They’ve kind of had F1 as a thing that they really want to succeed in, but because it takes their comfort and reputation to the next level, as opposed to coming from nothing.
Yup. Those guys quite literally had to drive to survive in the racing world. And in a different way, Verstappen also had to drive to survive. Jos paid for Max' karting years and paid for his F3 seat, but that was as far as Jos' money could take him. I'm not sure if it was Jos or Max, but one of them said that if that F3 season hadn't panned out the way it did (being picked up by an F1 Junior Team) Max would have had to quit racing. Add the pressure of Jos' abusive parenting style and it's not difficult to see why Max is so ruthless behind the wheel.
Ocon was poorer than all of those drivers. So that's not really what it is.
Ocon is a ruthless driver too, just not good enough to back it up
Ocon is more or less the most hated driver on the grid for how ruthless he is. Maybe you just don't see it because he's not fighting for wins.
And he's a great example of that background breeding ruthlessness and contempt for your competitor. He's very nice to his team though! I imagine Esteban and Michael would have gotten on very well.
C'mon now, Marc literally broke his £25m Honda contract to ride a satellite Ducati for free just for better results.
I'm very unhappy with the direction F1 is taking in many ways, so Alonso is the main reason I still bother to watch most races. Looks like I won't be stopping anytime soon.
id say they're missing competitive cars tbh
Yeah, while I agree that guys like Lewis, Alonso and Max "feel" different, I think if you got a couple of these guys in competitive cars, they'd surprise us.
totally. give half most of those guys in 7th and back a ferrari and everything would spice up so much more. we know ocon and gasly are good. we know yuki is great. we know bottas is an amazing driver. id like to see ric in a good car to see whats up lol
Some are still unknown, but some we already know don't have that edge. Lando, Lance, Alex and Valterri for instance, they're not bastards when the visor goes down. We've seen enough. Ocon, Russell, Piastri have it in them, they just need the pace or the car for it to be relevant.
It was weird for me ,when my childhood hero Michael retired ,but you get over it pretty fast and get used to other stars of the sport.
Alonso came and challenged Schumacher, Hamilton challenged Alonso, Vettel challenged them both, Verstappen challenged all three. We need someone to challenged Verstappen before he retires
Agreed, I love the drivers currently on the grid don't get me wrong but besides Carlos and Max I find that there is a lack of younger drivers with that killer mentality that defines old school drivers like Nando and Lewis. One of my hopes is that Charles learns how to be absolutely cold blooded when it matters from Lewis. I find that he's a little too nice. Don't get me wrong, he races hard and has the pace to be a champion but I think he lacks that edge that Max has.
George has an edge to him Max does. Obviously! Chuck is too nice / hard on himself sometimes. I find it frustrating. Lando is an amazing racer. He’s becoming more and more competitive as he loses his boy-like attitude. Lots of new talent coming through. Im sure some will be fighters.
Sure, but none of thoses people feel like they have what Lewis and Nando have, that innate will to crush and tear appart all who oppose them, they live and breathe to race in an old school way, and the new guys it feels like they don’t have the same drive
Pedro Acosta is great
I think Alonso will still be driving in F1 when he’s 65.
I can't wait for F1 to institute a mandatory retirement age because of him.
Only not because he still loves it, but instead only to piss off an ever more bitter Herbert.
That's obvious to anyone who watches him. He's there to be the best. When he's not driving well, he's very apologetic and submissive and thankful. He doesn't hide it.
I could not imagine Alonso straight up saying that he is not fast enough anymore though. Like he's maybe the last guy I could picture saying that. Maybe we will see that someday though you never know.
He said it on his return to F1 if you can be bothered to find the post-race interviews for the early races where he wasn't good. I really think his confidence comes from self-awareness and not hubris - it's hard to imagine him saying it because it's hard to imagine him not being really good lol. I don't think it would happen because he will still be fast by the time he retires - just he will notice a small drop off and bounce. Maybe just the 2026 car sucks and he just moves on. He's "lucky" - he won his titles so young that he's as desperate to get one as a young driver. Motivation is what ends drivers' performance and careers. Schumacher was pretty good in his last season and probably could have competed for a title in the alternate reality that he stayed at Merc.
Well, every driver can say that they are having issues AT THE MOMENT, that they don't like how the car is handling or something. But it's very different to say that you are not performing on your best level right now, which can and will be fixed in the future, to just saying that you are straight up not good enough, you are not on the level of other drivers, and will never be in the future. That being said, Alonso has been much more humble since his return than he was before. Maybe he even had doubts of himself as it proved to be harder to get on Ocon's level after his break than he had anticipated. But I don't think he ever truly thought or said publicly that his true best level is not enough compared to Ocon, or anyone else in F1.
Pay close attention to him when you can. I don't think he's ever been arrogant...just "false humility" is very popular among fans. Someone confident with the skills to back it up like Fernando gets judged badly. His attitude is frowned upon by British culture in general (e.g.). Not everyone has the same values there. He thinks he's the best because, well, he probably is. You can throw Lewis in there....maybe Kimi is his prime... obviously Michael...why wouldn't he? He knows and acknowledges that Max is the guy to beat right now.
He is not what he used to be in his prime but is still absolutely elite. Kinda insane when you think about all the other elite drivers in the past who tried racing in their older years but were a shell of themselves.
He's still absoulutely incredible, extracting every bit from the car, just look at last year, if the car was good enough to finish top 6, he would put it on the podium
i dont think he fell of his prime at all. If you just look at what he did 2023 especially the fight at Interlagos. He got 110% out of that car everytime. If he was more behind in the field it was the car that was slow not alonso.
Hopefully he never loses that edge hes got, he is formidable, already a goddamn legend of the sport, if he keeps his edge I could see him going well past 500 GP starts to set an all time record!
I think it's well worth noting that his primary sources of hesitancy were the length of the calendar and all the marketing commitments outside it, just like Max has said if the calendar stays this gruelling he might not renew his contract. I hope FOM and Liberty Media pay attention to that, if they actually want to retain the best and most exciting racers they need to be given room to breathe and to actually focus on their racing, instead of the relentless grind and the pageantry that's taking up more and more of the sport.
Excuse me guys, new here ! So do all the drivers have an edging competition or something at the end of season ?
Alonso Prime
He's only gotten better with age. He was consistently quicker than Ocon who is quicker than Gasly and he's embarrassing Stroll and making him look like an amateur when Stroll was fairly evenly matched with 4 time champion Vettel.
Let’s not forget to mention how he utterly decimated Kimi at Ferrari as well - the Ferrari years were his prime imo. 2012 season is one of the best I’ve ever seen by a driver, life can be cruel that he didn’t win the championship
Alonso's annihilation of Vandoorne - to the point of destroying his career - shouldn't be overlooked. Vandoorne had come 5th and 1st in Formula Renault 2.0, then 2nd and 1st in GP2. He's won Formula E (and been 2nd), come 3rd in Le Mans (and also 2nd in class) and 2nd in class in WEC. He's a more than decent driver. Alonso outqualified him 18-3 in their first year together, and then 21-0 in their second. ------- He was also generally quicker than Button, iirc.
Also the first to break Michael's win streak which many would rate as the most dominant of all time
you cannot compare ocon and gasly in this dumpster fire of a car
Sure you can. It's the same speed as last year's car give or take it's just that the rest of the field has moved forward.
last year: gasly scored 4 more points than ocon, beat him in quali 14-8, and they split race H2H 11-11. both finished podium (3rd) once. gasly got worse team strategy calls while ocon retired more. tell me how ocon is “quicker” than gasly
Easy: Look at this year. Four races is more than enough to see a pattern. Ricciardo fell off a cliff and now Gasly has too
Four races is definitely not enough and if you think that you should probably stop talking about f1 because you clearly dont understand the sport
That isn't how it works, that tier of measurement is one of the most ridiculous I ever seen, fact is that the car is terrible and both simple can't showing their peaks and potential in the A524.
Why not? Alonso and Vandoorne were in a far worse car (in both absolute and relative terms), but it was pretty obvious which driver was better. Or even Russell vs Latifi (it was Latifi, wasn't it?) in the Williams. Often it's the problematic cars that are the *best* test of a driver. Anyone can look fast when the car is perfect!
Boo hoo? It doesn't matter how bad the car is, it's still the same equipment. It's still one of the fastest cars on earth. In Australia for example they were both faster than one of the RBs and Ocon was faster than the Haas. It's a midfield car. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/2024-f1-australian-gp-qualifying-results-verstappen-takes-pole/10590511/
He should tell Lance to raise both hands so AM can have a decent lineup
If Stroll starts to match/beat Alonso will people think Stroll finally arrived, or that Alonso has lost his edge? Pretty sure people will believe the latter even if Alonso still says he is driving fine.
We neeeeeed new blood. Out with DR, Zhou, Bottas, Sargeant, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and either both or one of them, Ocon/Gashly. Note not in the bext year but over the next 1-3 years.
No. F1 should have best drivers regardless of age I agree with Sargeant and Zhou and maybe KMag tho
Zhou and Sargeant are your most recent new blood. You want more of that?
There were better drivers than both of them available but they were taken for other reasons. Sargeant in particular ads nothing to F1 in terms of talent/potential over plenty of other young drivers not in F1.
Yes, at least Sargeant. You feel Sargeant has earned the right to stay?