Fernando Alonso in Baku - Photo: Race Pictures

Alonso's skills backed: 'With these cars, he'd be in the title fight'

11:31, 02 Oct

byKada Sarkozi

Flavio Briatore is confident Fernando Alonso would fight for the title in a McLaren or a Red Bull Racing car this year.

"If Fernando was sitting in the McLaren or sitting in the Red Bull [this season] I promise you, he'd still be in the race."

- Flavio Briatore

Briatore and Alonso won two titles in 2005 and 2006 at Renault. The Italian has remained the driver’s manager since then.

Speaking to ESPN, Briatore explained Alonso can still very much fight for victories, given the right machinery.

"Sure, I hope. Aston has the top genius. Let's see how the genius is doing. I'm very curious," he said about Adrian Newey designing the Silverstone-based team's car for 2026.

"But if Aston has a car competitive, we'll see. All the time [when] the car is competitive, Fernando is there. He's always there.

"If Fernando was sitting in the McLaren or sitting in the Red Bull [this season] I promise you, he'd still be in the race."

Briatore arriving to the paddock in Monza - Photo: Race Pictures

The Italian also responded to claims that the two-time champion is difficult to manage.

"This is a lot of rubbish, really," he said.

"I don't know where it's coming from. I was completely upset [whenever I heard that] because Fernando is always a teammate."

He continued: "The guy keeps the team together, makes everybody working together. And the demonstration is now in Aston Martin as well, you know. The car is not competitive.

"But him, he's there all the time. He's like a Rottweiller. You go in one place and the Rottweiller bites you all the time."

Verstappen on Alonso's skills

The Spanish driver won his first F1 world championship two decades ago, putting an end to Michael Schumacher's reign.

Max Verstappen also talked about the milestone Alonso achieved 20 years ago.

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"I admire him a lot, how he is as a person, a racer, at his age to still be that motivated to perform in F1, but at the same time also what he has done before, like going into endurance, even doing Dakar, it's pretty insane. It just shows that he's also just passionate about racing.

"He had some good years where he won the championship and you could see his real talent. But it doesn't mean now that the base has gone or he's not quick anymore. It's just that the car doesn't let him. But again, it's still very nice that he's around and I have a lot of respect for what he's doing,” the Dutchman commented.