Fernando Alonso believes that Lewis Hamilton will “succumb to the pressure” from Max Verstappen in the title race.
The battle for top dog status is being contested by Hamilton and Verstappen. 12 points split the two in Verstappen’s favour before the Mexican GP.
The Spaniard was teammates with Hamilton during their days at McLaren. However, he backed the Dutchman to win the title and become world champion for the first time.
Alonso believes Hamilton will “succumb to the pressure” from Verstappen, and revealed that he may make mistakes because of it.
“Do I think Lewis will succumb to the pressure? Yes, thanks to Max. 100 percent,” Alonso told De Telegraaf, as quoted by Racingnews365.com.
“When Lewis only has to fight with his teammate Valtteri Bottas for the title, everything is great. Now he feels some pressure and he gets into trouble.”
Alonso also opined that it is hard for a non-British driver to excel in F1, and said that Verstappen is breaking the template.
“Then you see during this season that that British machine starts running again,” the two-time World Champion continued.
“Max handles that very well. It’s a very interesting championship, also off the track.”
Inconsistencies
Alonso also gave his thoughts on the two crashes the pair were part of, and suggested that they weren’t dealt with equally.
“Look at the two incidents between Max and Lewis, this year,” he continued.
“Those are not judged equally in my opinion. After the contact in Silverstone, Red Bull intervened, but otherwise it remained fairly quiet.
“After the crash in Monza, there was much more talk. And Max got a grid penalty for the next race. I don’t think anyone understood that. But that’s also part of that pressure from certain corners.”
“I respect enormously what both Max and Lewis are achieving.
“They are at their top level every weekend. Whether it’s wet, dry or very windy. The way Max stepped in at Red Bull and was right there, I don’t think anyone is capable of doing that,” he concluded.
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