{"id":403982,"date":"2026-01-12T05:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T05:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403982\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T05:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T05:05:11","slug":"ex-driver-picks-alonso-over-hamilton-in-equal-machinery-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/403982\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-driver picks Alonso over Hamilton in equal machinery showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former F1<\/a> driver Johnny Herbert<\/a> believes Fernando Alonso<\/a> would outperform Lewis Hamilton<\/a> if both were in the same car.\u201cI\u2019d probably go [with] Fernando. Fernando is in a bad car.\u201d- \u00a0Johnny Herbert<\/p>\n

The 61-year-old, who recently appeared on the Stay on Track podcast, weighed in on the respective seasons both drivers experienced.<\/p>\n

Herbert, who was accompanied by former F1<\/a> champion Damon Hill<\/a> on the podcast, highlighted how difficult it was watching Hamilton struggle through the 2025 season compared to Alonso.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was uncomfortable to watch, and it was like, \u2018Lewis, don\u2019t do that. You never did that before,\u201d Herbert explained.<\/p>\n

\"alonso-abu-dhabi\"\/<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso during the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Photo: Race Pictures<\/p>\n

Stressing his point on which of the two champions would thrive if given a similar car, the former Benetton driver, leaning towards Alonso, continued:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I look at those two, I go, if he were given the car, which one would be the one I put my money on? I probably, unfortunately, sadly, say I\u2019d probably go [with] Fernando. Fernando is in a bad car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further adding credence to his choice, Herbert stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just saying he\u2019s in a bad car in that Aston Martin; it\u2019s not the best. He\u2019s able to sort of squeeze that extra something out of it. I never saw that happen last year with Lewis, which I\u2019m sort of shocked we never saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s very frustrated and shocked that he wasn\u2019t able to do it. I look at his face and those interviews after the race, and you go, he\u2019s lost. He cannot understand what he needs to do to get around the problem he\u2019s got,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Hamilton gets backing from Ferrari stalwartFormer Scuderia Ferrari<\/a> engineer Jock Clear has leapt to Hamilton\u2019s defence amid the wave of criticism he received <\/a>during his debut campaign.<\/p>\n

The 62-year-old, in his words, drew comparisons to Michael Schumacher, stressing the need for patience with Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Catch up with GPblog\u2019s latest Paddock Update<\/p>\n

As the commencement of the 2026 season draws nearer, our Paddock Update is the place to be.<\/p>\n

Follow and subscribe to our channels on YouTube and Spotify to stay up to date with all the happenings as they unfold, ahead of the first on-track action under the new Formula 1<\/a> regulations.<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of our Paddock Update here \ud83d\udc47<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert believes Fernando Alonso would outperform Lewis Hamilton if both were in the same…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[94670,49,48,39259,578,28673,3018,930,576,577,38259,932,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-403982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-aston-martin-f1-team","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-damon-hill","12":"tag-f1","13":"tag-f1-news","14":"tag-fernando-alonso","15":"tag-ferrari","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-formula1","18":"tag-johnny-herbert","19":"tag-lewis-hamilton","20":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}