Alonso: "He's made a step forward, he is more competitive, more prepared"
F1 News
Lewis Hamilton will target a seventh World Championship in 2020 and he'll be strong favourite for it. However, Fernando Alonso may have hope for the field as he believes Hamilton has weaknesses, but they are yet to be exploited and feels he took the standard to a new level in 2019.
In 2019 Hamilton secured a sixth World Championship, moving him to within one of Michael Schumacher's record. Alonso believes the Brit has taken his performances to a new level.
"Especially in 2019 when the car has not been as dominant as other seasons," Alonso explained to F1 Racing magazine.
"If he cannot win, he's a very close second - not 20 seconds further back, which is what happens a little bit with Valtteri.
"A weekend when the car is not as competitive, Bottas is fifth or sixth or a minute behind - but Lewis is not.
"He's made a step forward, he is more competitive, more prepared."
Are there any weaknesses?
With the countdown to Melbourne on the teams will be preparing to mount there own challenge and Alonso may have shown a way to beat the six-time World Champion.
"He's made a step forward, he is more competitive, more prepared. He still has some weak points that have not been stressed yet - no one is pressing that button, that weakness," he added.
"If you study Lewis's season there is always a common trend. He starts the year slowly and no one takes the benefit of that. We all get excited that it will be the year of Bottas, but it's not.
"It would be nice to compete against him in a proper fight. Maybe his weak points are not real and everything is calculated but it would be nice to discover."