F1 media sees Alonso as best driver on current grid

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Fernando Alonso has been selected as the best Formula One driver on the current grid following a vote by a pool of veteran journalists.

With two world titles, 32 race wins, 97 podiums and 22 pole positions in 270 career starts, the McLaren-Honda star boasts one of the most successful resumés in the field.

However, Alonso’s last victory stretched back to the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, while he has been chasing a third championship for a decade.

Spanish publication AS launched a survey to find out if the 35-year-old was still considered as an elite talent, polling nine fellow journalists from seven countries (UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Argentina, and Brazil) for their top five drivers if all of them were driving the same car.

Nearly all correspondents continue to see Alonso as the best in the business, with only James Allen voting for Lewis Hamilton as his number one. The Mercedes ace appears in every journalist's shortlist, unlike team-mate and current points leader Nico Rosberg.

It’s interesting to notice that a number of correspondents place four-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo ahead of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. The Australian did outscore and outperform the German when the two were paired at Red Bull in 2014.

Others consider Carlos Sainz a better talent than Max Verstappen despite Red Bull promoting the latter to its main team over the former, while Sergio Perez’ name pop up a couple of times.

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Julien Billiotte