Lewis Hamilton has ‘raised his level’ in the last two seasons but still has weaknesses others are not exploiting, according to Fernando Alonso.
Alonso, who left F1 at the end of 2018 and is pondering a return in 2021, says it would be ‘nice’ to test Hamilton. The Spaniard told F1 Racing magazine: “He’s made a step forward - he is more competitive, more prepared.
“He still has some weak points that have not been stressed yet — no-one is pressing that button, that weakness.”
The two-time F1 champion said Hamilton’s superiority over his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was obvious from the weekends when the car was not competitive. He added that Hamilton had not been tested under moments of extreme pressure in recent seasons.
“He’s raised the level the last couple of years, especially in 2019 when the car has not been as dominant as other seasons,” said Alonso, who tied on points with Hamilton when they were McLaren team-mates in a tumultuous 2007 season.
“If he cannot win, he’s a very close second — not 20 seconds further back, which is what happens a little bit with Valtteri. A weekend when the car is not as competitive, Bottas is fifth or sixth or a minute behind — but Lewis is not.
“If you study Lewis’ season, there is always a common trend. He starts the year slowly and no-one takes the benefit of that. We all get excited that it will be the year of Bottas, but it’s not. It would be nice to compete against him in a proper fight. Maybe his weak points are not real and everything is calculated but it would be nice to discover.”
“When you have a good package and the other guys crash and you extend your championship lead, everything seems calm. If you are only one point behind or 10 points behind, the stress is different. The mistakes are different and your radio communications are different. We need to see him when the pressure is on.”
