Alonso omits Vettel from top five of all time

AUSTIN: Fernando Alonso heaped praise on Lewis Hamilton and omitted Sebastian Vettel on Thursday when he was asked to name his five greatest Formula One drivers of all time.

Speaking at a news conference ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, the two-time world champion Spaniard said that Hamilton had proved his talent by winning in cars that were not expected to be victorious.

“It is difficult to compare those different times and different championships, but Lewis matching (Juan-Manuel) Fangio with five championships will be a great achievement,” said Alonso.

“If one (driver) had to do that in our generation, I am happy it is Lewis as he has showed the talent and commitment. When the car is dominating, then he delivers — and when it is not good enough to win a world championship, he still puts in the performance to show his talent.”

Hamilton needs to outscore Vettel, a fellow-four-time champion, by eight points in Sunday’s race to clinch his fifth title, but he avoided all talk of any glory that may ahead.

Alonso went on to say his top five would include seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, five-time champion Fangio, three-time champion Ayrton Senna, four-time champion Alain Prost and Hamilton.

Asked by Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull, who was sitting close to him, if he would include himself, Alonso said: “No. Not really.”

Hamilton also explained why he had recently defended and supported the luckless, under-fire Vettel, with a social media post on Instagram, following his and Ferrari’s recent slump in form.

“I think if I was in the same position they would do the same thing,” he said.

“As drivers, we are all members of the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers’ Association) and I think we all need to stick together.