Max Verstappen says that he hopes Fernando Alonso can claim a Formula 1 win this year—if he and Red Bull ever falter, of course.
Red Bull has not been beaten yet across seven Grands Prix in 2023 with Verstappen responsible for five of the victories. Teammate Sergio Perez has the other two wins. Aston Martin’s Alonso is the highest-placed non-Red Bull driver in the championship and has taken five podiums so far, as he chases a first Formula 1 victory in over 10 years.
“I like him, he’s a real racer and I think he deserves it,” said Verstappen. “He never gave up, you can see he loves the sport which sometimes I think after so many years of having a car which is only capable of driving in the midfield maybe you lose a bit of that love.
“He’s a real racer, an animal, if you ask me one driver who I would like to see win a race this year, it’s Fernando.”
Should Verstappen triumph in Canada on Sunday it will be his 41st victory, which would draw him level on wins with the late, great Ayrton Senna.
“People always have different kind of careers, maybe some drivers get into a race-winning car sooner than others, nowadays we have more races than back in the day,” said Verstappen. “So I never look at the number but yeah when I was a little kid I would have never imagined to be in that list. For me it’s definitely something that’s an amazing achievement for sure but you can’t compare it.”
Verstappen conceded it will be “very hard” for him to overhaul Lewis Hamilton’s current tally of 103 victories but the seven-times world champion reckons the current title-holder has a chance.
“Max has been doing an amazing job,” said Hamilton.
“He's had such an incredible career so far and he's for sure going to surpass that. (We’re) working on getting the car to where it needs to be so we can slow him down.”
Friday Canadian Grand Prix Practice
Hamilton wound up quickest on Friday practice for Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix, a race he has won on seven occasions, including his maiden triumph back in 2007.
Hamilton set the fastest time, a 1 minute, 13.718 seconds, to finish 0.027 second quicker than Mercedes teammate George Russell in an extended second practice session, following a CCTV issue earlier in the day that precluded track activity in the first session.
Verstappen finished the session in sixth place overall.
Heavy rain deluged parts of the circuit during the closing minutes of the 90-minute session and further showers are expected through Saturday.
