Alonso lavishes incredible praise on’magical’ Verstappen: ‘He’s the reference’

Fernando Alonso said some astonishing things about Max Verstappen. Demonstrates how highly regarded he is among his peers.
Fernando Alonso has showered Max Verstappen with admiration after watching his fellow F1 champion’s incredible pole-winning performance ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Up until the last minutes of qualifying, it looked that Verstappen would be facing an all-McLaren front row. The Red Bull driver then delivered over 87 seconds of what Alonso described as’magic’ to take the pole position from Lando Norris.

Verstappen has already battled with the RB21, most notably during Friday practice, implying that it was ‘flexing’ at one point, emphasizing the obvious balance concerns.

Verstappen then astonished himself with a fantastic lap of 0.012s over Norris, despite the fact that a McLaren had been fastest in all three practice sessions and the first two phases of qualifying.

Alonso, a two-time Formula One winner, correctly acknowledged the performance.

“He’s an outstanding driver, and he’s proving it every weekend, so hats off to him,” remarked Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso to the media.
“He is solely responsible for the lap he completed. The vehicle is plainly not ready to compete for pole or even top five. But he manages to complete those amazing laps and have beautiful weekends.

“At the time, he is the best. He’s a benchmark for all of us, and we need to keep progressing to achieve that level.”