‘Schumacher beat all team-mates, unlike Hamilton’

Jamie Woodhouse
Fernando Alonso Michael Schumacher PA

Fernando Alonso says Michael Schumacher was harder to race against than Lewis Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso thinks Michael Schumacher pips Lewis Hamilton as F1’s hardest driver to beat because he conquered all team-mates.

Alonso knows exactly what Schumacher is capable of having ended his run of five consecutive Drivers’ Championships by winning the 2005 and 2006 titles with Renault, the only World Championships that the Spaniard has won in his F1 career.

And for 2007 Alonso would make the move to McLaren where his team-mate was rookie Hamilton as the pair formed a brand new partnership for the team that year.

It would last for 2007 only though with Alonso then making his return to Renault.

Skip forward to 2020 and Hamilton is rapidly closing in on matching Schumacher’s record of seven World Championships, and so that brings the obvious question of who is the harder driver to beat out of the two?

Well, it’s a tough question but Alonso went with former rival Schumacher because he said the German conquered all team-mates.

Meanwhile Hamilton, who has won five of his six titles with Mercedes, had the only blemish on that run inflicted by Nico Rosberg who beat Hamilton to the title in 2016 during their time as team-mates.

Rosberg would retire just days after winning the 2016 World Championship.

And that is why Alonso gives the edge to Schumacher.

Asked by Sport Bild which driver was harder to beat, Alonso said: “Difficult. These are different eras and cars with different performance.

“But I remember Michael as a driver who is hard to beat, one with the greatest talent. He had that extra something.

“Lewis is very good and the best of his generation. But he did not win the World Championship with McLaren when he was Jenson Button’s team-mate.

“Nico Rosberg also won the World Championship at Mercedes. Michael never had such things. He always won. For me, Michael has the edge.”

With ten rounds gone in the 17-race 2020 season Hamilton holds a 44-point lead over team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

The Briton has won six races in 2020 but controversially missed out on a seventh at the Russian Grand Prix after being handed two five-second time penalties for doing practice starts outside of the designated zone on his way to the grid for the race.

That incident came not long after the Italian Grand Prix where Hamilton’s chances of winning were dashed by a 10-second stop-go penalty for entering the pit lane when closed.

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