Fernando Alonso claims Max Verstappen "deserves" to be F1 World Drivers' Champion on Sunday

Two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso feels Max Verstappen deserves to clinch the Drivers’ Championship at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The 40-year-old veteran, who returned to the sport this year with the Alpine-Renault team, has claimed that the Red Bull team and Max Verstappen have been fast and committed throughout the year.

Speaking at the FIA press conference ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso told Sportskeeda’s Niharika Ghorpade:

“It’s not that I support Max, I think he deserves it, or he was driving, in my opinion, as I said, everyone has a different opinion, I think he was driving that Red Bull to another level. I think no advice because they are very well prepared, they are committed, they are fast, they are professional, no mistakes, both of them driving at the limits so I think it’s very interesting to watch from the outside. They are very well prepared and that’s good.”

Going into the final race weekend of the season, title protagonists Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are level on points after three back-to-back race wins for the latter.

Verstappen still holds a minor advantage, as he has won more races (9) compared to Hamilton (8). Meanwhile, Red Bull have fallen behind their rivals Mercedes in the constructor's championship, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner saying that his team needs a miracle to win the constructors trophy.

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Max Verstappen’s title hopes rests on how much the re-modeled Abu Dhabi suits Red Bull

Although Max Verstappen is technically ahead in the drivers' standings courtesy of the number of his wins, the recent form from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes poses a serious risk to his maiden title hopes.

Since dominating the race in Mexico City, Red Bull has generally struggled to match Mercedes, particularly Lewis Hamilton’s straight-line pace. Furthermore, the racetracks in Brazil and Qatar have generously rewarded horsepower and aero efficiency rather than downforce. This, combined with the superior speed of the new engine on Hamilton’s car, has rendered Red Bull and Max Verstappen helpless.

In the past, the Abu Dhabi circuit has been notoriously difficult to overtake and has been criticized by drivers and fans alike for the lack of racing opportunity. In 2010, Alonso lost the driver’s world championship after being unable to overtake a slower car.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominated last year’s race at Abu Dhabi, whose slow-speed corners rewarded Red Bull's superior downforce. However, the race promoters decided to remodel the circuit to facilitate overtaking for this year’s race.

The new layout removes several slow-speed chicanes while adding high-speed corners to drastically reduce the lap time and increase overtaking opportunities, although it still retains the final sector from the original layout.

This should make the first two sectors suitable for Mercedes, while the final sector seems suitable for Red Bull. Until qualifying on Saturday, however, the relative performances of both Red Bull and Mercedes on the new layout will remain unknown.