Alonso is completely wrong. The WDC is a yearly competition. Who ever wins it cannot be held responsible for the lack of opposition, or the failure of other teams to catch up. Beside, more or less each year is a different challenge, and the conditions also change, however slightly. It's preposterous to give different values to different championships, IMO. Could we say that Alonso's 2 WDCs owed more to his tyres than his skills? Perhaps we should !
F1 and its drivers might want to just race and stop talking. Is all petulant and absurd/stupid and idiotic. You drive. SO SHUT UP AND Drive.
I agree with Alonso, though in a much broader way. Yes each year is a new championship with its own challenges, but I would never agree that all championships hold the same value or merit. That would be the same as saying every champion holds the same level of greatness. No way would I ever put Damon Hill, JV, or Jenson Button in the same category as Schumacher, Senna, or Hamilton. I absolutely agree with you about Alonso's 2005 championship being a lot down to tires, so his first championship should come with a conversation. It did completely take Schumacher/Ferrari out of contention and they were not fairly dethroned. Though Alonso did beat out Raikkonen in the fastest McLaren. Having said that, I think most recognized Alonso's greatness in his time with Ferrari, where he didn't win a championship. In this specific case, I would say Max's 2 is more impressive than Lewis' 7. To date, I maintain that 2008 was Hamilton's greatest championship. The other 6 could have been won by 10 other drivers in the same Mercedes.
Alonso still hasn't included Max as the the top 5 of all time, as he did Hamilton. https://www.racefans.net/2018/10/18/alonso-hamilton-is-one-of-f1s-five-greatest-champions/
Max was already considered as good or better than LH even without a WDC. And Alonso is a legend, beyond any stats. After F winning the WDC the next best thing would be Alonso getting a competitive car.
All this is purely subjective, and reflects only your personal opinion. The FIA records are the true judge.
Max is a flash in the pan at this moment, when he wins 7 titles let me know. Remember Vettles 4 championships with a Red Bull built car ? Turns out it was all the car and had nothing to do with Vettle. Now Max has a car that any top driver could win in. What sperates the True Superstars of F1 is drivers that won championships for more than one team. Lewis and MS don't just share 7 championships, they were also able to repeat the magic at more than one team.
I read a article 10 years ago that said Schumacher was one of the greats. I guess your response duh too huh?
Alonso's response was before Max started winning. I honestly don't get where you're coming from with Schumacher analogy BUUUT if the article was 10 years ago( 2012) then I would agree with the article since it was AFTER his dominance with Ferrari and not BEFORE.
I wouldn't call Max (or Vettel) "a flash in the pan", but a driver can only be judged over his whole career. I sincerely hope Max can emulate Schumacher or Hamilton; if he does, I am afraid he will feel the hate too. Winning several titles for different teams is a good sign of skills, mixed with consistency and adaptability. Fangio: 5 titles with 4 different teams (hard to beat that !) Brabham: 3 titles with 2 teams G Hill: 2 titles with 2 teams Stewart: 3 titles with 2 different car makes, although it was the same team E Fittipaldi: 2 titles with 2 teams Lauda: 3 titles with 2 teams Piquet: 3 titles with 2 teams Prost: 4 titles with 2 teams Schumacher: 7 titles with 2 teams Hamilton: 7 titles with 2 teams Most of the best drivers are on that list.
But AGAIN, that article was in 2018!!! After the Alonso article Max started winning a WDC title or 2. Got it?
That's a bold statement for Alonso to make. It doesn't matter what year it was written in. Lets see if he puts Max in this category, his hasn't so far. Got it?
@ktu Be my guest and write, tweet or email Alonso NOW to see if he would revise his 2018 article that you posted to include Max as his top 5 since Max has already won 2 back-to-back WDC titles. And please, do tell us what Alonso's response was should he respond to your request.
What's the name of this thread?....per Alonso btw. Did you read the BBC article that was posted by the OP? nuff said.
Then you would already know that Alonso thinks very highly of Max.....so much so, that Max's 2 WDC titles are "greater" "better" "carry more weight" (or whatever word you want to use) than Lewis's 7 WDC titles. Isn't Lewis the one mentioned in the 2018 article that you posted?
I wouldn't pay much attention to what Alonso say myself. It's quite clear to me that Fernando hasn't yet digested the humiliation he suffered in 2007. Any occasion is good for him to stir up a new controversy by making jibes about his former team mate. Praising Max and making reference of his 2 titles being more worthy than someone who collected 7 is another example. Alonso is quite immature, in my opinion, for not accepting that bygones are bygones and turning the page, 15 years later. F1 has become such a minefield now, that personally I do not believe one word said, reported or printed. I wouldn't give credence to any statement, interview or comment anymore. What isn't official doesn't exist! People do not mean what they said, or they use the media to settle their account in various disagreements. Frankly, F1 is about cars on the track, not about what Toto Wolf, Horner or Binotto say, nor more than about the comments from Alonso, Kravitz or other jerks who spend their days looking for angles to antagonise people for fun. I am even surprised people still listen to them! There are very few people to listen to, today. Just like I closed my ears to politicians years ago, I find the media gossips around F1 a real turn off .