Fernando Alonso has lavished praise on Max Verstappen’s current dominance in Formula 1, believing his achievements this year have been “underestimated”.
Verstappen equalled the all-time F1 record for the most consecutive wins by a single driver with his ninth straight victory on Sunday at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Dutchman has come out on top in 11 of the 13 rounds to be held to this point as he surges towards a third F1 Drivers’ title.
Alonso, who finished second at Zandvoort, reckons his fellow two-time World Champion is extracting the maximum from his machinery more than anybody else.
When asked if he thought Verstappen was operating at a level above the rest of the F1 grid, Alonso replied: “Yeah, it is underestimated sometimes what Max is achieving,” Alonso said. “I think to win in such a dominant matter in any of the professional sports, it is so complicated.
“So to be at the same level of him, obviously, we have a lot of self-confidence, drivers in general. So I do believe that I can do good as well as well. I don’t know about Lewis [Hamilton], but me, yes! And Lewis as well, and everyone, I think you need to enter in a mood, in a state that you are, as I said before, connected with a car.
“I think days like today, I felt that I was at my best and have been giving 100% of what I felt and my abilities on a racing car, but maybe in Spa I was not at that level or in Austria or something like that.
“So you always feel that there is room to improve and you are not 100% happy with yourself, as I am today. And I think Max is achieving that 100% more often than us at the moment, than any of the drivers, so that’s why he’s dominating.”
Verstappen will have the opportunity to surpass Sebastian Vettel and stand alone as the only driver in F1 history to have won 10 races in succession if he triumphs in this Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old stood on the top step of the podium at Monza for the first time last year. But the previous three victors at the venue before Verstappen all retired the next year.
Meanwhile, Alonso, a two-time Italian GP winner, will be bidding to secure another top-three finish, having returned to the podium for the first time since June on Sunday.
Alonso closed to within 33 points of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who has failed to finish in the podium places five times in the last nine races.
Consequently, Perez has dropped 137 points behind Verstappen, who can secure the title as early as next month.
