F1: Fernando Alonso Feels Hamilton Will Crack Under Verstappen Pressure

Arch-rivals and former teammates Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are easily two of the greatest drivers since the era of Michael Schumacher, however, there is no love lost between the two. And yet again, Alonso has stated that his former teammate and 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will likely crack under the incredible pressure that's being put by Max Verstappen who now has a 19.5 point lead over the defending world champion. 

Alonso cites the raw talent of Verstappen and the very impressive Red Bull machinery ensuring that the most successful driver in the history of the sport is under the pressure. 

"Do I think Lewis will succumb to the pressure? Yes, thanks to Max - 100 percent. When Lewis only has to fight with his team-mate Valtteri Bottas for the title, everything is great. Now he feels some pressure and he gets into trouble," said the 2005 and 2006 world champion. 

He cited the fact that the Mercedes dominance of the V6 turbo hybrid era of engines has resulted in Hamilton mostly competing with his teammate. In that scenario, he has only been defeated once by Nico Rosberg in 2016 and has had a rather complaint with Valtteri Bottas ever since his retirement.  

Verstappen extended his lead over the defending world champion 

He also stated that the British media has always supported Hamilton more than any other driver but Verstappen hasn't been impacted by the British bias. He noted that while Hamilton wasn't criticised a lot by the British media for his crash with Verstappen at Silverstone, the Dutchman was lambasted for the crash in Monza. It also helped that his Red Bull team which is also mostly British in origin attacked Hamilton back. 

"Then you see during this season that that British machine starts running again. Max handles that very well. It's a very interesting championship, also off the track. Look at the two incidents between Max and Lewis this year," said the Alpine driver. 

"Those are not judged equally in my opinion. After the contact at Silverstone, Red Bull intervened but otherwise it remained fairly quiet. After the crash at Monza there was much more talk and Max got a grid penalty for the next race. I don't think anyone understood that. But that's also part of that pressure from certain corners," he said. 

Despite this, Alonso said that he retained a lot of respect for the two especially his former teammate for what he had achieved.