Verstappen prefers Alonso's unique quality to Hamilton: "Fernando excels more"

In an interview with The Times, Max Verstappen highlighted a unique quality of Fernando Alonso's. It is such a remarkable quality for the Dutch driver that he prefers his fellow two-time world champion over Lewis Hamilton. And what might that quality be? The Spanish veteran's surplus capacity.

Verstappen and Alonso have become known for admiring one another, and after the latter recently ran out of superlatives, his younger colleague now faces the same 'problem'. The Red Bull Racing driver describes having surplus capacity as a significant advantage that cannot be learned. "Only a few drivers have that. Fernando is definitely one of them."

"I feel that he, through the way he handles the car, picks up on small things and showcases his extra capacity," Verstappen describes the quality Alonso possesses. "He still pushes the limit, but he also thinks about other things." Verstappen himself notices that he also has some extra mental capacity. "You talk to the engineer, but I also hear a Ferrari car's pit stop."

Hamilton mostly unmentioned

Verstappen continues, "Then I ask myself: did they make a pit stop? I heard something about it on the team radio. If you are fully focused on driving, you probably won't pick up on that. You only pay attention to your engineer's voice." One driver whom Verstappen excludes when describing the advantage of having overcapacity is Hamilton. Why? "Because Fernando excels more in that aspect."