The two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso says that any other team in the sport will “always lose” when it comes up against Mercedes.
The German manufacturer has won every single title since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid engine era in 2014, and Lewis Hamilton’s breathtaking speed on the straight at last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix convinced many in the paddock that the team was making a significant step moved forward at the pace as the title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen heats up again with three races remaining this season.
The 40-year-old Spaniard returned to the starting line this season with the renamed Renault Alpine team, wearing the same outfit with which he won the championships against Michael Schumacher in 2005 and 2006. Alonso enjoys a solid If unspectacular season, currently tenth in the table with 12 points ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon.
Alonso took a break from the sport in late 2018 after falling well behind Mercedes for the past six seasons and unable to compete for race wins in uncompetitive Ferrari and McLaren machines.
The continuing dominance of Mercedes still frustrates the 32-time race winner, who told the German motorsport outlet Speedweek: “As a driver, it’s like playing basketball and there’s one basket for you and one for the others. They get their points with a bigger basket and you have to score yours with a smaller one, so you always lose. “
Alonso knows what it feels like to drive the fastest machine on the grid, having dominated the Renault R25 and R26 cars in the V8 era, winning the World Endurance Championship and two victories in the with Toyota Gazoo Racing Le Mans 24 Hours was won by its absence from F1. The pace advantage of Mercedes in Brazil, which allowed Hamilton to advance from 20th place to victory in the race on Sunday at the start of the sprint race, was too much for Alonso.
“I am fortunate to have won two championships and I was privileged to be in that position. I was also at Toyota in the WEC and had that superiority in the car. But I just imagine young kids watching this sport and seeing a car go straight past two others. We shouldn’t let them lose hope that they can become masters.
“We are all committed to sport. We train a lot, we work in the simulator, we risk our lives every time. But we’re still one lap behind [Mercedes] in every race, and we know it before we even go to Qatar. It’s really the only sport where something like this happens. “
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