F1 | Massa doesn't believe in Alonso's chances: "It's difficult to imagine him winning the world championship in 2018"

Fernando Alonso will not be one of the title contenders in 2018, according to Felipe Massa. In an interview with Sky Sports, the Williams standard-bearer spoke about his career in Formula One, underlining how Fernando Alonso was the fastest teammate together with Michael Schumacher. According to the Brazilian, in fact, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel are not yet at the level of these two, especially in terms of performance. Precisely on the Spaniard, Massa specified how, despite the clear step forward with the Renault engine, McLaren will not have the opportunity to battle with Mercedes and Ferrari in 2018. Alonso will therefore have to settle for a transition season while waiting for a 2019 with many more guarantees from a technical point of view.

Here are the words of Felipe Massa: “Alonso was the most competitive teammate together with Schumacher. They are two enormous talents that I think are on the same level. Vettel is also a great driver, but in my opinion he is a step below. The same goes for Verstappen who still lacks consistency. He has speed, but for the title you also need to be able to be satisfied with some results. I hope McLaren is competitive next year and I'm sure it will be better for Fernando than this year, but honestly he can fight for the title straight away."

Roberto Valenti