“He is probably the most complete driver”: Former F1 boss heaps praise on Fernando Alonso

Former Renault Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul has stated that Fernando Alonso is the most 'complete' driver on the planet.

Abiteboul, currently leading the Hyundai team in Rallying, signed Alonso to Renault to replace Daniel Ricciardo for the 2021 season. The Frenchman, however, could not keep his own job at the French-based outfit and was let go ahead of the 2021 season.

In an interview with AS, Abiteboul spoke about working with Spanish drivers Carlos Sainz and Alonso:

"They are very involved, professional, disciplined, and very rational pilots. At the same time, they are Latinos and I have a good connection with those types of people. De Carlos is impressed by his attention to all details, particularly the mechanical part of the car, as if he were an engineer, and has helped improve the car since he was at Toro Rosso. Fernando needs no introduction. He is probably the most complete driver on earth and it is a joy to see him at the top of Formula 1 again." [Translated by Google]

"He went straight into sports cars, IndyCar, he did the Dakar" - Former F1 driver on Fernando Alonso

Former McLaren driver David Coulthard recently compared Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher's second stint in F1.

As per GiveMeSport, Coulthard said:

“When Alonso stepped away from F1 the first time, he went straight into sports cars, IndyCar, he did the Dakar, he’s got a kart track and you see him out testing his karts at his facility in Spain. There’s the expression, ‘Don’t let the old man in.’ If you let the old man or the old woman in, that, ultimately, is what you end up becoming."

He added:

“I think, in comparison to Michael, who stopped and was no longer racing, then went and played on motorbikes and then had a crash and broke a vertebra and then came back to F1 three years after he’d originally stopped, he could still go through the motions and was still an incredible individual, but just wasn’t as good as he had been before. I think it was that uninterrupted nature of Fernando’s time away from F1, as we saw with Kimi Raikkonen [in 2010 and 2011] as well – he went away rallying.”

With four podiums already this season, It will be interesting to see if Fernando Alonso can win a race in his 40s with Aston Martin in 2023.