Alonso warns Verstappen 'You cannot afford any mistakes'

Alonso has recently stated that people do not understand how difficult it is to remain in a title fight when you do not have a very dominant car. Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing's advisor, said Verstappen is currently driving the third or fourth fastest car on the grid. During Thursday's press conference, Alonso was asked if he thought Verstappen was getting enough credit for fighting for the title in the RB21.

He said, "I think it reminds me a little bit of my time in Ferrari in 2010 and 2012, fighting for the championship until the last race with the third or fourth-fastest team, sometimes not even in Q3, winning races and things like that."

He explained that this was not something that normally happened. "Those are exceptional circumstances, not the normality." He added, "I think I received credit in those seasons for my performance."

He then went on to detail how it was a difficult situation for any driver to be in, but that nobody has doubts about Verstappen. "He receives credit now because no one doubts that he's on top of the game. But it is hard. You cannot afford any mistakes. You cannot get it wrong in qualifying, you cannot get caught in traffic, you cannot get an impeding — you cannot get anything. If not, everything is out of the box. It's extreme, but it's a challenge."