Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Alonso rates his F1 rivals

Alonso was asked by Spanish paper AS to give his view on his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, current World Champion Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton as well seven-time Champion Michael Schumacher.

Two-time Champion Alonso described Vettel as follows: "Very fast. Very fast and accurate. If he starts first in a race it is hard to stop him."

Mark Webber, who finished third in the Drivers' Championship last year is "experienced, calm and reliable. It is very difficult to see him fail."

Alonso believes his former McLaren team-mate Hamilton is "a great driver and one of the fastest of the present Formula One grid" while Button "has a great nature for difficult races in the rain or with the safety car in the dry".

As for Schumacher, Alonso says "he is the champion, we all respect him and he is a driver able of surprising".

And his views on his team-mate Massa?

"Very quickly, he knows the team, he ongoing with Sauber, but is now with Ferrari and very hungry to win."