Sorry Formula 1 fans, the 2024 title has been decided. At least according to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
The two-time F1 world champ delivered the brutal truth bomb a week out from the season officially getting underway.
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After pre-season testing wrapped up in Bahrain, Alonso said everyone on the grid knew the Red Bull outfit would once again be the dominant force.
Alonso said 19 other drivers know they’re competing for second place in the drivers championship with Verstappen to make it four straight crowns.
“I think Max is the world champion and Red Bull is dominating the sport. Also, the concept that they presented this year, it’s also a surprise,” he said.
“At the moment, we just have to watch them and see how they perform.
“I think 19 drivers in the paddock now will think that [they] will not win the championship.
“It happens 99% of the time in your career. This is a brutal sport.”
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Red Bull dominated the field throughout the 2023 season, winning 21 out of 22 races and in a damning statement, Alonso believes it will be even harder to steal a victory in 2024.
“I think it’s difficult to tell now [if we have a race winning car].“I would say, I think after seeing Max and the Red Bull car this year, there are less chances for everybody to win a race this year. But this is how it is.”
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the 42-year-old however as he stated he had recorded his best ever fitness test results during the pre-season.
Despite the condition in which his body is, the veteran superstar said those results don’t necessarily translate into on track results.
“I was super fit, happy and motivated in [2015] and I scored 11 points [finishing 17th in the championship]. So, this sport is not always what you feel or what you do.”
Pre-season testing wrapped up in Bahrain on Saturday with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topping the timesheets ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Verstappen was fourth fastest on the final day of testing behind Zhou Guanyu and marginally ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.
The new F1 season starts in Bahrain on March 2 and will feature a record 24 races.
Leclerc was not getting too carried away with Ferrari’s chances of unseating Red Bull.
“For the moment, Red Bull still has a good head start,” he said. Mercedes arrived in Bahrain with a 2024 car which is “very different” from its predecessor.
Hamilton, however, urged caution over a title charge in his final season with the team.
“We know we’ve got work to do and we’re not yet where we want to be,” he admitted.
“We knew that would be the case coming into the test though. We’ve got a great platform to build on. We’ll go away and work hard over the next couple of days to go through all the data from the test.
“I’m really excited for the start of the season next week and we’ll be heading into it in good shape.”
– with AFP
