Fernando Alonso believes Lewis Hamilton can still win an eighth world championship – but has warned that Max Verstappen is ready to break the British driver’s records.
Hamilton will head into Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix on a 30-race losing streak following Mercedes’ failure to provide him with a winning machine.
He is already 75 points behind Max Verstappen in the standings, with the Dutchman on course to secure his third world title in as many years.
Hamilton, 38, said he was “counting down the days” until the arrival of Mercedes’ upgrade, but following its debut at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, he admitted here in Spain that the new design has not provided him with the step forward he was hoping for.
He also revealed it will be a “long process” to dethrone Verstappen’s dominant Red Bull team.
However, in an interview with the PA news agency, Alonso, who at 41 is the only driver older than Hamilton on the grid, said: “Lewis will be in contention for the eighth title.
“I don’t know if that will be next year, or in the future, but he will have another chance of winning the championship, that is for sure.
“Mercedes are a very strong team, and Lewis is a very strong driver. He doesn’t forget how to drive from one season to the next.
“The Mercedes car is not an easy one to drive and it is not a fast car, but you see every weekend that Lewis is always there – fourth, fifth, fourth, and he was second in Australia. He is driving on top of the car.”
Hamilton’s rival Verstappen took his maiden Formula One win on his Red Bull debut in Spain seven years ago.
On Sunday, a fifth victory of the year would put him on 40 victories for his career, leaving him just one shy of Ayrton Senna’s tally, and with only Hamilton (103 wins), Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) ahead of him.
On Thursday, Verstappen, 25, said Red Bull has the speed to win the remaining 16 races and complete an unprecedented clean sweep and Alonso believes the Dutch driver could eclipse Hamilton’s win record and the seven championships he shares with Schumacher.
“Until the regulations change in 2026, Red Bull will contend for the championships so there will be many chances for Max to win races,” said Alonso.
“He is young, the calendar is longer than ever before, with 24 opportunities to win every year, so he can break the records along the way.
“But there are also no guarantees. When I won two championships [in 2005 and 2006], I thought I would win a few more and have a lot of wins, so Max cannot relax because things can change quickly.”
For Alonso, his home race this weekend marks the 10th anniversary of his 32nd and last win in the sport.
However, the Spaniard is enjoying a career resurgence following his transfer from Alpine to Aston Martin, finishing on the podium at five of the first six races and earning a new fan base along the way. And he still hopes he could yet be a contender for this season’s crown.
“Things can change rapidly so I will not give up on the title until it is mathematically impossible,” said Alonso, speaking at ‘IL PITSTOP’ – an immersive Aston Martin garage experience from Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%
“We have a low chance and we have to be realistic about that. Max is showing great performances and no weak points.
“But we need to challenge him closer to see if he makes any mistakes because at the moment life is too easy for Max.
“We have a new generation of younger fans who didn’t see me stepping on the podium before. They probably thought you lose performance and ability with age and I was just a driver from the past.
“But eventually they see the car – as we repeat many times but sometimes you need to prove it once again – is the most important thing in Formula One, and they suddenly see you are a good driver.
“My popularity is on a high, and for Aston Martin and the sport in general, too, so we have to ride this wave.”
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Red Bull paid the price for 'uncontrollable' RB20 in Baku, says Verstappen
Max Verstappen lamented Red Bull's changes that left the RB20 "uncontrollable" at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen could only manage fifth place around the streets of Baku, but remains 59 points ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris, who finished one place in front.
But the Dutchman was the beneficiary of a collision involving Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz on the penultimate lap of the race.
Verstappen has now gone six grand prix without a pole position and seven without a victory, last winning at the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
The three-time world champion cited issues with his car during qualifying that seemed to carry over into the race, but is confident Red Bull can respond in Singapore next time.
"I think the changes we did to the car were positive, but then you still need of course to do the set-up on the car," Verstappen said.
“I think we were heading in the right direction but then the changes that we made before qualifying tipped it over the edge.
"We paid the price for that in the race unfortunately.”
The Dutchman was able to further detail the difficulties he experienced on track, saying: “My wheels were literally coming off the ground.
“Then of course you lose contact patch with the tarmac which you don’t want.
"That then caused me to slide a lot more, overheat the tyres more and there was no way to drive around it so the pace was just a bit all over the place.
“I had to box and then it was just a bit unfortunate I got stuck behind Alex and Lando.
"I was in that fight, George passed me, and then we actually had good pace, the two of us.
"We were catching the leaders but then as soon as I got close to George again within that window where you have the dirty air, because of the jumping that I’m dealing with I’m sliding already quite a bit.
“And then when I get close to him I’m sliding even more and that just tipped it over the edge where it becomes quite uncontrollable towards the end of the race, which was very difficult again.”
Leclerc pledges to learn from Piastri battle after Baku near miss
Charles Leclerc pledged to learn from his mistakes after squandering pole position at Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finishing second to Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc started at the front of the grid in Baku for the fourth time in a row, having also claimed a memorable triumph for Ferrari at their home circuit of Monza last time out.
However, Piastri passed Leclerc on a straight on the 20th lap, and a spirited fightback was not enough for the Monegasque driver as the McLaren held on for his second win of the year.
The result means Leclerc remains third in the drivers' championship standings with 235 points, behind Max Verstappen (313) and Lando Norris (254), while Ferrari remain third in the constructors' table.
Speaking about his battle with Piastri after the race, Leclerc said: "It is enjoyable when you've got many opportunities every lap.
"I think maybe McLaren had less downforce and in the straights they were very quick, in the corners we were a bit quicker.
"I couldn't get as close as I wanted and eventually we lost the race when I didn't defend as well as I could have at the end of the straight. Sometimes you make mistakes and I'll learn from it."
Asked at what stage he realised victory was unlikely, Leclerc said: "I think as soon as we put the hard tyres on. On the medium we were very competitive, and the car felt good.
"Unfortunately for me, we didn't do any high fuel running in FP1 and FP2. We went for a setup direction which in the race was a bit more difficult to manage.
"McLaren and Oscar have done an exceptional job and done better than us."
Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, was pushing for a podium finish when he crashed with Baku specialist Sergio Perez, taking both drivers out of the race.
"It's a huge shame for Carlos on the last laps," Leclerc said. "Hopefully everyone is okay, and obviously it's not a great day for the team."
Baku triumph 'the most stressful afternoon', says race winner Piastri
McLaren's Oscar Piastri labelled his victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the most stressful afternoon of his life after claiming his second career win in Formula One.
Piastri, who started second on the grid, emerged victorious ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to put McLaren at the summit of the constructors' championship.
The Australian's team-mate, Lando Norris, managed a fourth-place finish in Baku having endured a difficult qualifying that saw him start in 17th on Sunday.
Piastri's triumph saw him move up to 222 points in the drivers' championship, and he is now 13 points behind Leclerc in third place.
The McLaren driver performed a huge lunge on the inside on lap 20 to take the lead from the Monegasque, defending admirably to secure the victory in Azerbaijan.
“I tried at the start of the race to get in front but once I dropped out of DRS I just didn’t have the pace,” said winner Piastri.
“After the stop, I saw we were pretty close again and I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip.
"I had to go for it because I knew that if I didn’t get past at the start of the stint, I was never going to get past.
“I went for a pretty big lunge but managed to pull it off and then hang on for dear life for the next 35 laps.
"The last couple of laps, once [Leclerc] dropped out of DRS, were a little bit more relaxing, but there’s no such thing as a relaxing lap around here so it was hard work.
"It definitely goes down as one of the better races of my career.”
Piastri (two) and Norris (two) are the first pair of drivers to get two wins in the same season for McLaren since 2012 (Lewis Hamilton, four, and Jenson Button, three).
The Australian's victory also continued the British-based team's record of having one or both of their drivers on the podium in each of the last 13 races.
It equalled their second-best run in the competition (13, which they recorded on two other occasions, between the United States and Portugal in 1990, and Germany 2011 and China 2012).
Up next on the F1 calendar is the Singapore Grand Prix, a race that saw Norris claim second last year, with Piastri finishing down in seventh.
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