Hill: I think Alonso is capable of running F1

Drivers with three 11 titles climbed to the podium in Montreal: Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix, another two-time champion, Fernando Alonso, finished next, and they were joined by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Damon Hill, who won the title in 1996, took part in the F1 Nation podcast and talked about the qualities that distinguish Max, Fernando and Lewis.

Damon Hill: “In terms of pace, I would put Max first right now. If we analyze one of his fastest laps, we will see that he is distinguished by the ability to fly at the highest possible speeds, which reminds me of Ayrton Senna’s style. Sometimes it is even scary to look at him from the side.

I know that Lewis also has all these qualities, but he is still a bit closer to Alain Prost, because he acts neater and more accurately. I don’t know, maybe the difference is that Max has this conscious desire to reach the risk zone, and this is what scares me personally in him.

The point here is not that Lewis is acting more prudently or cautiously, but he is well aware of the cost of risk. But overall they are very close to Max in terms of speed. For example, if you arrange ten races for those two, maybe Hamilton will win in the end, because Verstappen crashes the car two or three times. He may very well overdo it as he will do everything he can to stay ahead of Lewis.

But if you evaluate all three in terms of racing skills, then it seems to me that Hamilton should come first here. Lewis works very effectively with his engineers, while Fernando could do without them. In fact, on the contrary, it is he who tells the engineers what to do.

It seems to me that during the race, if necessary, Hamilton manages to put in absolutely fantastic laps. I’m not sure if Fernando has kept this ability to this day. It is enough to give Lewis a specific task – to pass circles in a certain time – and he will complete this task.

Now let’s talk about the level of experience: this is where Fernando comes in, who has not only completed most of the races, but also has a lot of experience driving non-competitive cars. It is clear that when Lewis played for McLaren he also had difficult periods, but in his case the situation quickly changed for the better.

But as Alonso played for different teams, drove different cars and visited different conditions, it all contributed to his versatile professional development. In this respect, Fernando is far superior to all others. I can well imagine that he could lead the entire Formula 1 in the future because he knows so much about this championship. In any case, if he retires as a driver, he will be a very valuable asset to any team.

But there is one additional quality that distinguishes the best drivers: the ability to perceive different types of information when piloting – the results of laps by rivals, changes in weather conditions, track conditions, etc. The ability to communicate well with your race -engineer – Michael Schumacher, for example, was distinguished by this. George Russell can do it too.

When we hear Lewis talk to an engineer, he seems to be insane all the time, which often surprises me. But in fact he is 100% focused on what he is doing, driving faster and getting the most out of the car.

We can say about Fernando that he not only sees, hears and feels everything that has to do with the behavior of the car on the track, but much more. This is a kind of special state that is characteristic of real masters when they reach the peak of their form: they are controlled without much effort, so they can perceive additional information from the outside and pay attention to countless little things.