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Max Verstappen shared his admiration for Fernando Alonso, his fellow F1 colleague and the most senior driver on the grid. Speaking about the Spaniard, the Red Bull driver praised the former's excellence in Formula 1 and other sports series such as endurance racing.
Verstappen has been racing in F1 alongside Alonso for nearly 11 years. During these times, the two drivers were fierce competitors in their own league, but never competed against each other.
Alonso was past his prime when Verstappen arrived in F1, and their nearest competition came during the 2023 season when Alonso was a contender for podiums, while Verstappen went on to win races.
Ahead of the Azerbaijan GP, Max Verstappen touched upon his admiration for the two-time world champion and hailed his accolades in racing. Speaking about this, here's what the four-time world champion said:
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"I get on very well with Fernando. I admire him a lot: how he is as a person; [as] a racer at his age to still be that motivated, to perform in Formula 1; but at the same time, also what he has done before - doing this, going into endurance, even doing Dakar, for example. It's pretty insane." (via The Race)
The ongoing 2025 season is Max Verstappen's 11th of his career, while Fernando Alonso is racing in his 23rd season, as he dropped out of the 2019 and 2020 seasons to race in the endurance series. Currently, Alonso, the driver from Oviedo, has 420 race entries, two championships (2005 and 2006), 32 race wins, 22 pole positions, and 106 podiums to his name.
When Fernando Alonso praised Max Verstappen: "At the moment, he's the best"
Earlier in the 2025 season, Fernando Alonso had all the praise for Max Verstappen. The Aston Martin driver's appraisal for Verstappen poured in especially after the 2025 Japanese GP qualifying, where he defeated Lando Norris by 0.012 seconds to claim the pole.
"He's an outstanding driver, and he's proving it every weekend, so hats off to him," Alonso told the media after the qualifying session.
"The lap he did is only down to him. The car is clearly not at the level to fight for pole or even top five. but he manages to do those magical laps and have magical weekends. At the moment, he's the best. He's the reference for all of us, and we need to keep improving to reach that level," Alonso further added.
Max Verstappen went on to win the Japanese GP, as he denied Norris the race victory. This was the Dutchman's first victory of the 2025 season. Currently, he is in P3 (behind Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris) in the Drivers' Championship with 230 points after 16 races and three sprints.
