Max Verstappen explains why Fernando Alonso cost himself six Formula 1 titles

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Max Verstappen believes Fernando Alonso is one of the top five Formula 1 drivers of all time. But the Red Bull racer also feels the Aston Martin star has cost himself six titles.

While Verstappen is now a three-time champion of the world, Alonso has only ever won two drivers’ titles so far. The 42-year-old also won his F1 championships back in 2005 and 2006 whilst with Renault. Alonso even ended Michael Schumacher and Ferrari’s dominant period.

Schumacher had won five championships in a row before Renault made Alonso a champion. The Spaniard was even the youngest driver to win a Formula 1 title at the time aged only 24 years and 57 days old. He also became F1’s then-youngest double world champion in 2006.

Max Verstappen thinks Fernando Alonso’s decision-making cost him six F1 titles

But further success has continued to allude Alonso over the past two decades. The Oviedo native has only been a champion contender four times in his 16 seasons since Alonso won a second title. He finished third in 2007 plus second during the 2010, 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Alonso also only missed out on a third title in a row by just one point as Kimi Raikkonen won Ferrari’s last drivers’ title in 2007. The Finn won the season-finale Brazilian Grand Prix to pip a rookie Lewis Hamilton and Alonso, who had left Renault for McLaren but stayed for a year.

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Had Alonso stuck around in Woking he may have won the 2008 title at McLaren as Hamilton won his first of seven that year. And Verstappen believes Alonso’s decision-making is the key reason why he has not won a title since 2006, despite being one of F1’s greatest drivers ever.

“Alonso is among the top five [drivers] in F1 history,” Verstappen told Mundo Deportivo. “I think so. The number of titles? Alonso could have had eight world championships if he had been a bit luckier in his career by making the right decisions at the right time.”

He continued: “I feel that Fernando Alonso is definitely one of the best drivers in history because wherever he went, he was always very, very fast. But you need the material to be able to win races and Alonso, unfortunately, didn’t always have it.”

Fernando Alonso rejected six moves to Red Bull from 2007 to 2018

Alonso walked away from McLaren after just one season to return to Renault having felt the team had favoured Hamilton. The Spaniard would go on to join Ferrari in 2010 and instantly became a title contender. He arguably should have beaten Sebastian Vettel to that title, too.

Ferrari went into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Alonso leading the standings with a 15-point advantage over Vettel, who even trailed Mark Webber. But the Scuderia cost Alonso the championship as their strategy left him stuck behind Vitaly Petrov as Vettel won.

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Yet Alonso would only truly be a title threat again in 2012 but saw Vettel win his third of four championships in a row at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. The German delivered an incredible recovery after his first lap crash with Bruno Senna to win the title by three points.

A return to McLaren in 2015 also took Alonso firmly out of title contention during the team’s disappointing period with Honda engines. But in a parallel universe, Alonso is the driver who Red Bull took to multiple drivers’ titles having courted his skills several times over the years.

Alonso revealed to Sky Sports in 2018 that he had rejected six approaches by Red Bull to join the Milton Keynes outfit in his career. The first came during the 2007 season followed by the 2009 campaign, in 2011, 2013 and then twice during the 2018 season but he always said no.