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“You Can’t Teach That”: Fernando Alonso Underlines Dutch Lion Max Verstappen’s One Natural Quality Which Gives the Edge Over Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc

Published 12/29/2022, 7:30 AM EST

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via Reuters

Ever since his arrival in F1 at the age of 17, Max Verstappen was praised as a natural talent. While earlier in his career he could not show much of his talent owing to a lack of competitive cars, the last two years have been phenomenal for the Dutchman. Ever since Red Bull delivered the championship-winning cars, he has shown what he is capable of. Fernando Alonso has now praised his fellow 2-time champion for possessing an ability that only they both possess.

The ability to adapt to different track conditions and cars is something Fernando Alonso has mastery over. He credits it to trying his hand out at different motorsports besides F1. That is an ability he feels Verstappen has naturally in him as he delivers results right from the word go.

via Reuters

“I think you cannot teach that, I think it has to come from yourself,” Alonso said about Max’s adaptability to Speedcafe.com. “There are drivers that they need, you know more time, they need to study more data, they need all the Friday to analyze and compare with a team-mate and slowly make little steps until they are 100 percent ready for quali.”

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“And there are others that they are 100 percent in FP1.”

“So I think Max is one of those, and he has been always like that, you know, from go karts to now so it should not be a surprise for anyone.”

Fernando is not the only F1 champion who has lauded Max’s natural talent. Jenson Button has in the past rated him higher than Lewis Hamilton for his natural ability.

Daniel Ricciardo picked Max Verstappen over Lando Norris

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Daniel Ricciardo has raced alongside Max Verstappen as a teammate for Red Bull for 3 years. In two of those years, the Honey Badger beat him on points. Ricciardo also raced with Lando Norris as a McLaren teammate for two years. In each of those years, the Briton beat the Australian driver for points. However, before he faced the drubbing, he rated his former Red Bull teammate higher than Lando.

via Reuters

Speaking with EFTMOnline after racing a couple of races with Norris, Ricciardo said, “I mean I have to say Max but it’s probably just based off I’ve had more experience with him. But I mean judging by like the last weekend [in Italy where Norris secured a P3 finish], Lando certainly raced race really well.”

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We wonder if Daniel is still firm on his assessment of the two drivers after facing defeat twice and taking a year off from F1.

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Written by:

Nischay Rathore

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Nischay Rathore is a Formula 1 Author at EssentiallySports. Being a law graduate, he has worked at the Supreme Court of India as well as the High Court of Delhi. However, due to his adherent love for sports, he has now set out to start his journey into the world of Sports Journalism.
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Edited by:

Varunkumaar Chelladurai