Fernando Alonso delighted F1 title fight no longer 'Lewis vs Lewis'

Max Verstappen during StyrianGP — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

Alonso delighted F1 title fight no longer 'Lewis vs Lewis'

Former world champion feels battle has "more adrenaline" this year

Ian Parkes & Will Gray

Friday 2 July 2021 05:00

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Fernando Alonso feels there is “more adrenaline” to this year’s F1 title fight and is glad to finally see the back of the Mercedes dominance that has allowed Lewis Hamilton to reign for so long.

Alonso, who won world titles in 2005 and 2006, returned to F1 with Alpine this season after two years away and while he is further towards the back of the top 10, he is interested to watch the battle between Hamilton and Max Verstappen from afar.

"It is very interesting from the outside to follow and to watch," said Alonso. " At least we don’t have like previous years when it was Lewis against Lewis and sometimes Valtteri [Bottas] but not often.

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“So, yes, at the moment we have a more interesting championship so we can follow with a little bit more adrenaline until Abu Dhabi, so I think that’s a good thing.”

Verstappen is Alonso’s favourite

With eight races of the season completed, momentum has shifted from Hamilton, who won three of the four opening races, to Verstappen, who won three of the next four and is chasing a hat-trick of wins this weekend in Austria.

Red Bull has moved ahead by bringing development parts to add to its RB16B, while Mercedes is putting more attention on building a new car to meet next year’s radically different regulations.

Asked who he felt was title favourite, Alonso added: “At the moment, probably Max because he is performing better but things can change quickly depending on the performance of the teams and updates to the car.”