Some Formula 1 titles won by Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher have less value due to a lack of competition, Fernando Alonso has suggested.
While both are of course seven-time world champions, Hamilton and Schumacher achieved much of their success during dominant periods for their respective Mercedes and Ferrari teams.
As a result, Alonso argues, they didn’t have to worry about the challenge of beating other top drivers, unlike himself and Max Verstappen, for example, during their championship years.
“I have a lot of respect for Lewis, but still it is different when you win seven world titles when you only had to fight with your teammate,” the Alpine driver told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
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“Then I think a championship has less value than when you have fewer titles but have had to fight against other drivers with equal or even better machinery.
“In 2005 and 2006, I had a good start to the year myself and was able to create a lead. Then others might have had a better car, but I was able to manage that gap.
“I never had to fight with my teammate to win those titles. Nor did I see Max fighting with [Sergio] Perez or [Alex] Albon to win races.
“But Schumacher fought with his teammate to become champion five times in a row and Hamilton fought with Rosberg and [Valtteri] Bottas. That’s different, I think.”
It is no secret that Alonso is an admirer of Verstappen, someone he credited for keeping him interested in F1 during his two-year sabbatical in 2019 and 2020.
And while they have had the occasional on-track battle, the 41-year-old hopes to compete with Max in the coming years.
“Actually, we have hardly fought each other,” Alonso said. “That’s very unfortunate. I want to fight with the best drivers and Max is part of that.
“I have been lucky enough to fight with Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher in the past, but I have never had that chance with Max.
“Hopefully that will still happen in the coming years when I drive for Aston Martin.”