Damon Hill names the one F1 driver who doesn’t even need a race engineer

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Damon Hill has explained why Fernando Alonso almost doesn’t need an engineer to support him during F1 races.

Alonso has rarely spent an extended period with the same engineer since making his F1 debut in 2001. That’s partly down to regularly changing teams – he’s never spent more than five seasons in the same environment – but there were also reshuffles at Renault (twice), McLaren and Aston Martin.

Most recently, Aston promoted Chris Cronin – Alonso’s race engineer for his first two seasons – to a more senior role, and brought in Andrew Vizard as his replacement.

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Damon Hill: Fernando Alonso tells his engineers what to do

Speaking on the Stay on Track podcast, Hill likened the long-running relationship between Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase at Red Bull to a marriage. Verstappen relies on Lambiase to ‘calm him down’ in certain situations.

By contrast, Alonso doesn’t seem dependent on his engineer because he’s so assertive in the cockpit.

“It’s like a marriage, isn’t it?” Hill said. “If someone like Max is very demanding, you need someone strong enough to… not stand against him, but understand what Max is really saying and get to the answer quickly for him so that he’s either calmed down, or given the information he really needs.

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“I wonder it’s like being an engineer for Fernando Alonso. I mean, there’s hardly any need for an engineer is there? Fernando Alonso tells you what to do, and you probably do it!”

Alonso has started more races (428) than any driver in the sport’s history. That makes him more experienced than many of the engineers in the paddock.

• READ MORE: Jenson Button once explained why Fernando Alonso is a more ‘complete’ F1 driver than Lewis Hamilton

Over the years, the two-time world champion has come to be regarded as one of the smartest operators F1 has ever seen. Former Renault colleague Pat Symonds called Alonso ‘remarkably intelligent’ after hearing his questions in driver briefings.

Even at the age of 44, Alonso is showing no obvious signs of slowing down, though Aston Martin’s current struggles make it difficult to assess the quality of performances.