Reportedly in the running for the Red Bull seat where Ralf Schumacher says Christian Horner is a “very, very big” fan of the Spaniard’s, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Alonso is also “very exciting” as an option to replace the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.However, former F1 driver Marc Surer has warned both prospective buyers that age is now a factor for the 42-year-old.“As you get older, you simply lose speed. You can’t deny that,” he told Formula1.de.And he believes that’s evident in Alonso’s qualifying with the Spaniard yet to make the front row this season.I think he’s lost a bit of speed, simply because of age. There’s nothing you can do about that,” said Surer. “And of course that has an impact especially in the qualification
I think you’ll feel that more and more in the future. That’s why he’s no longer one of the absolute top drivers.But, he added, “in the race he drives really hard. He’s a fighter, he uses the tyres optimally.“You practically don’t have to give him any instructions. He knows exactly how to treat the tyres. He doesn’t always need the engineer to tell him how to drive.You can see all his experience there and the motivation is always there still there
Alonso remains the better of the two Aston Martin drivers on 16 points to Lance Stroll’s nine.
The Canadian, though, did out-qualify him in Australia.“The next race will look completely different,” said Surer. “I think Lance just has his good ones days. But he doesn’t always have them.”“Alonso had a bad weekend,” he added. “He couldn’t handle the car or the set-up. He made a lot more mistakes than normal and underperformed, at least in qualifying and practice.
