'Welcome. This is F1' - Fernando Alonso says Lewis Hamilton's struggles this season should not be surprising

Fernando Alonso says that Lewis Hamilton’s struggles are not surprising given that the car is just as imperative as the driver when it comes to success in Formula 1. In previous years, Hamilton has been a main contender for the championship. This year, however, it has been a season to forget, as the joint record holder for most World Championship titles sits sixth in the drivers’ standings, well behind rival Max Verstappen and leader Charles Leclerc.

Ad/> Part of Hamilton’s struggles are due to his new car, a design that Mercedes have struggled to perfect. Spanish Grand PrixWolff: Everything is easier for Verstappen this year21 HOURS AGO The team's design was seen as ingenious during pre-season testing, but there have been no competitive lap times to show for it, with the car being around a second-per-lap slower than Red Bull and Ferrari. «This is the nature of the sport,» said Alonso, Hamilton’s former team-mate at McLaren.

«Sometimes you have a better car, sometimes you have not such a good car and you still need to fight and make some progress »This year we see that the driver is very important in F1 but not crucial. "Lewis is driving as good as he has been the last eight years. He was dominating the sport and breaking all the records and 100-and-something pole positions.

And now he is doing a mega lap — as he said in Australia or somewhere like that — and he is one second behind. So, yeah — welcome. This is F1.