Former F1 Driver Reveals the One F1 Driver He Considers Better Than Lewis Hamilton

Former F1 driver Nick Heidfeld believes Fernando Alonso is a more “complete” driver when compared to Lewis Hamilton. Heidfeld had words of praise for both drivers and admitted that Hamilton was the more talented of the two. The German also revealed that hoped to see Alonso return to Formula 1 in the near future.

Heidfeld rates Alonso higher than Lewis Hamilton

Going purely by the statistics, Lewis Hamilton beats Fernando Alonso by quite some margin. Over the course of a 13-year career, the Briton has 84 wins and 6 World Championships in F1. Meanwhile, Alonso has 32 victories and 2 Championships to his name.

The pair were teammates for a single season at McLaren. Hamilton was a rookie at the time and Alonso, a seasoned World Champion. The duo’s partnership was short-lived but wasn’t short of controversy. Putting their rocky relationship aside, it’s really their career choices that defined their legacies in Formula 1.

For most of his career, Hamilton has been at the right team at the right time. The British driver has spent most of his illustrious career fighting for wins and World Championships. Some fans cite a competitive car as the reason behind Hamilton’s dominance but that is untrue. Even during his GP2 days, the Briton displayed some phenomenal race craft despite not having the best car.

Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, hasn’t made the best career decisions during his time in Formula 1. After winning his final World Championship, Alonso was more often than not in the wrong team at the wrong time.  Many expected the Spaniard to surpass Michael Schumacher as F1’s greatest driver but poor decisions let him down.

Heidfeld feels Alonso is the more “complete” driver of the two. Speaking to F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Nick said:

“I would say the most complete [driver] is Alonso… probably the most talented is Hamilton but the best overall, in my eye, was Alonso.”

“[Alonso] is, for me, definitely the guy I would like to see most back in Formula 1. When he stopped, when he quit [F1, in 2018], I thought then I would like to see him race again because he is, for sure, one of the best.”

“He was world champion, but he would have deserved to be world champion more times.”

Unfortunately, fans remember Alonso as wasted potential in F1 rather than his accomplishments in the sport.