By Jay
September 14 2010

Embroiled in the recent criticism of Ferrari on team-orders, Niki Lauda has come out in support of their lead driver Fernando Alonso.

The former triple world champion, speaking to Spanish newspaper El Pais, assesed three out of the five challengers for the 2010 F1 driver's title.

 First up he spoke of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, saying, “Sebastian is very fast, but he needs time to learn not to make so many mistakes.”

 “Hamilton has matured a lot [now] and makes not many mistakes, despite being incredibly aggressive. Today, Lewis is far more complete. Red Bull has had many ruined races, especially with Sebastian, but their car is the best and they’re the team to beat. McLaren has been too inconsistent, Ferrari as well," he added.

 Speaking on his critical view of Fernando Alonso in light of the team-order saga, he said, “I don’t have a problem with him at all.”

 “First, from my point-of-view, he is the best driver currently in F1. There’s no-one like him — not Vettel, or Hamilton, or any of the others. The only criticism I’ve had is when he was at McLaren, and now with the team orders at Ferrari.

“You can’t do what he did after Germany — when he came out and said he knew nothing about what happened on the track. He tried to convince people that he had no idea what his team had done from the pit wall. That’s all I’ve criticised.”

 Blog Link - Alonso has a rather different edge over his rivals

 

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