Otmar Szafnauer compares Fernando Alonso to Sebastian Vettel after joining Alpine

Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has lavished praise on Fernando Alonso’s driving ability and compared his work ethic to Sebastian Vettel, another former world champion that he worked with in the past.

One of the worst kept secrets over the Formula 1 off-season was that Szafnauer would be joining Alpine after previously working for the likes of Aston Martin.

Indeed, during his time with the Silverstone-based team he worked with Sebastian Vettel, with the four-time world champion bringing his experience to the side.

Szafnauer has since moved on, of course, to Alpine where he is getting insight into working with another former world champion; Fernando Alonso, and he has underlined how impressed he is with the Spaniard.

Indeed, Otmar says that Fernando’s work ethic is unbelievable when it comes to delivering a performance, and his ability to get faster and faster in a short period of time also makes him a real asset to be working with:

“What I like about Fernando is, like all world champions, he really pushes,” said Szafnauer.

“Like Vettel, [it is a] no-stone-unturned performance. I like that, that’s what racing should be about.

“The other thing he is really good at is getting a lap in instantly. I haven’t seen anyone go from ‘Let me just do an out lap to boom!’

“Then you think ‘Wow! That’s happened’, and then the next one ‘I’m going to go half a second quicker’. He gets there like that. I haven’t seen that from many drivers.”

F1 has four world champions on the grid this season, with Vettel and Alonso joined by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Between the four of them, they have 14 world titles and you can see the respect the likes Vettel and Alonso command on the grid with them still performing and looking to