With Max Verstappen on the Prowl With His Immaculate Run, Fernando Alonso’s Brilliance Touted to Halt the 2X Champ’s Dominance in Austria

Max Verstappen started the season miles ahead of the rest of the grid. In the first four races, his teammate, Sergio Perez was good competition. After Perez’s form fizzled out, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were his competitors. But they too weren’t quick enough to challenge him for victories. Now, owing to his consistency and Aston Martin’s improving pace, Alonso has been touted as Verstappen’s closest rival.

In most of Max Verstappen‘s victories, he was 20 seconds ahead of the rival teams fighting for P2. However, at the Canadian GP, Alonso closed that gap to 9.57 seconds. Now, 9.57 seconds is still a pretty big gap. But halving it in one race is an impressive feat. As per Jesus Balseiro, Alonso has what it takes to take on the Dutchman.

Balseiro wrote for as.com:  “In Canada, Aston Martin was 9.5 seconds behind Red Bull in the race, the smallest gap of the entire season. And Mercedes has also taken a step forward that is confirmed with the recent podiums of [Lewis] Hamilton and [George] Russell, and that will be reinforced next week at Silverstone with more evolutions.”

“In Austria, Aston Martin is looking up again. Canada’s improvements were a step forward that must be increased as the races progress, because you never extract all the benefits in the first grand prix with such an important evolution. In addition, Spielberg favors the qualities of the AMR23 with rather short corners in which traction matters more than downforce.”

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Alonso might be considered as a contender for victory in Austria. But, he has his doubts regarding the new sprint format.

Fernando Alonso Is Unsure of Aston Martin’s Expected Performance In Austria

The Austrian GP will be the 2nd time this year that the Sprint format makes an appearance. And it will be a challenge for all teams because they’ll only get one practice session, on Friday. Saturday would be a hectic day, with the Sprint Shootout and the Sprint race. The Spaniard was a bit pessimistic about their expected performance in the new format.

Alonso commented on the upgraded AMR23, saying that only one FP session should not suffice to get to know the new upgrades. In an interview with Sky Sports, he also said, “I think the Sprint weekend will not be ideal for us.”

Can Alonso be the cog in the wheel for F1 fans who are bored seeing Max Verstappen win? Whoever wins, fans are going to have an action-packed weekend owing to the new Sprint format.

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