Flavio Briatore, who has won titles with both drivers, believes Fernando Alonso is better than Michael Schumacher. "He (Alonso) is the best of the last 20 years," said the former Benetton and Renault boss, whose two-decade timeline would take F1 back to the Senna era.
Briatore told Italy's Sky Sport 24: "He (Alonso) is above Schumacher, but we are talking about very high levels and minimal differences. But Fernando makes very few mistakes, even under pressure, and his impression of the race is spectacular."
The Italian, who remains involved in the Spaniard's management, continued: "Sometimes a team can make mistakes with strategy but he can pull it back. And when he's ahead, 90 per cent of the time he will win the race, even if the car is not competitive. He lives and breathes racing only," added Briatore, who was banned from F1 amid the 'crashgate' scandal of 2008/9.
On the 2012 season more generally, Briatore thinks Alonso can win the championship but "Ferrari has to improve the car so that Alonso can win at least one more grand prix without McLaren being second. "There are many points, but if you're not first or second, there are only crumbs," he said.
Told that Red Bull's era of dominance is over, Briatore insisted "I don't think so", while he praised the Swiss team Sauber, who are "proof that money doesn't make the difference".
As for Romain Grosjean, who - once championed by Briatore - is emerging this weekend from an ultra-rare FIA race ban, Briatore said: "The federation did well. He (Grosjean) uses the car as though it's his, so he must begin to respect the work of the (Lotus) people because he causes many accidents. I would like to see what Alonso could do in his place," he added. (GMM)
Alonso better than great Schumacher - Briatore
- Published on 18 Sep 2012 11:56
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- By: Rob Veenstra
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Driver profile
- Team Aston Martin
- Points 629
- Podiums 9
- Grand Prix 199
- Country ES
- Date of b. Jul 29 1981 (44)
- Place of b. Oviedo, ES
- Weight 68 kg
- Length 1.71 m
- 187,783 comments on Aston Martin
78 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Fernando Alonso
Team profile
- Team name Sauber
- Base - Switzerland
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Kimi Räikkönen 7
- Felipe Massa 8
- Marcus Ericsson 9
- Nico Hülkenberg 11
- Felipe Nasr 12
- Esteban Gutierrez 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Kamui Kobayashi 14
- Sergio Perez 15
- Charles Leclerc 16
- Kamui Kobayashi 16
- Sergio Perez 17
- Kimi Räikkönen 17
- Esteban Gutierrez 21
- Kamui Kobayashi 23
- Guanyu Zhou 24
- Nico Hülkenberg 27
- Antonio Giovinazzi 36
- Valtteri Bottas 77
- Pascal Wehrlein 94
- Adrian Sutil 99
- 115,816 comments on Sauber
- 5 members have this team as their favourite
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