Ex-Ferrari and Benetton driver Jean Alesi has claimed he was “more impressed” by Ayrton Senna than Michael Schumacher.
The Frenchman enjoyed stints racing against both after joining the Formula 1 grid in 1989 with Tyrell before eventually retiring at the end of 2001.
And when asked how he would compare the two drivers that are often named as the greatest of all time, Alesi explained how they had different qualities.
“Some drivers when they talk to engineers, they work for that and some others not,” Alesi told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“Michael was the typical driver where whatever he was saying the team was following his words and that made him a huge champion, because of the trust he gave to the team and the team worked with him and he was a very hard worker.
“Nobody can say with the amount of victories he had, pole positions… for sure he was special.
“But with Senna… I don’t know how to say, but Senna impressed me more. Speed wise.”
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Alesi managed to elaborate further as he agreed the Brazilian was the fastest driver he had competed with.
“Don’t underestimate the cars we drove at the time, with qualifying tyres for one shot [at a lap], massive grip, 550 kilos and no power steering,” he noted.
“He impressed me many times.”