Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has been under major scrutiny since he clinched his second F1 title at the Suzuka Grand Prix. The Dutch driver, last year, was criticised for his controversial win last year as beat Lewis Hamilton to clinch the title in a season-ending safety-car-laden race at the Abu Dhabi GP.
Similarly, this season, Verstappen was under the scanner as his team was found guilty of breaching the financial cap. But former F1 champion Fernando Alonso has come out to defend the Dutchman by calling his championships more valuable than the titles of seven-time champ Lewis Hamilton.
The two-time champion, while talking to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, said, "Max's titles are worth more than Hamilton's. I have a lot of respect for Lewis but it's different when you win seven world championships having only had to fight against your teammate."
He further talked about how Hamilton's championships are less valuable as he didn’t have any quality contenders competing against him. He said, "Then I think a championship has less value than when you have fewer titles but have had to fight against other drivers with equal or even better material. In 2005 and 2006, I had a good start to the year myself and was able to create a lead. Then others might have had a better car, but I was able to manage that gap.”
Alonso also addressed the fact that he didn’t fight with his teammate during his title run just like Verstappen. Whereas Hamilton was only competing with both of his previous teammates. He said, "I never had to fight with my teammate to win those titles. Nor did I see Max fighting with [Sergio] Perez or [Alex] Albon to win races. But Schumacher in particular fought with his teammate to become champion five times in a row and Hamilton fought with Rosberg and [Valtteri] Bottas. That's different, I think."
