Alonso plays down press euphoria around Vettel, Hamilton

Fernando Alonso has played down not only Lewis Hamilton’s recent struggles, but also Sebastian Vettel’s unprecedented success.

"I think Hamilton is not doing so poorly, or that Vettel is going to win seven titles in a row," the Ferrari driver told EFE news agency in Korea.

Spaniard Alonso, now overtaken by Vettel as F1’s youngest ever double world champion, baulked at claims the Red Bull driver’s success is "not fair".

"No, no. It’s always fair," he smiled.

"What happens is that it is always more and more, whether you succeed or fail. When things go well it becomes easier, and when it goes wrong it gets harder.

"This is a sport with a lot of publicity and a race every 15 days," added Alonso.

"Everyone thought that when I won the two titles I would win a few more in a row but I did not. Then Hamilton came a point within the championship in his first season, he won the second and he looked like he was going to win 10.

"Then it looked like it would be the decade of the Brawn (team) but they won only once, and Red Bull has won two in a row with a phenomenal job but we will see what happens next year," he said.