'Aggressive' Alonso Verstappen partnership 'fun to watch'

Former Indycar Series race winner Danica Patrick believes a partnership between Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen would be "fun to watch".

Red Bull driver Verstappen has raced into a 125-point advantage over teammate Sergio Perez with the Drivers' title seemingly wrapped up ahead of the second half of the season.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit has been the dominant force in the sport this term, amassing over double the points of second-placed Mercedes.

But behind it in the pecking order is a flurry of activity with the Silver Arrows, Aston Martin, Ferrari and McLaren all battling it out for best of the rest at each race weekend.

With performance so tight between teams, drivers have often made the difference from event to event - World Champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton securing the best results to sit behind the Red Bull duo in the standings.

But asked who would prevail if car performance was equal, Patrick told the Sky Sports F1 Podcast: “It’s pretty tough for me to not keep thinking about Fernando Alonso.

“He’s 41, he has re-emerged as so competitive, and just doing that over and over again, like his second coming, is just so impressive.

“You can’t exclude Max Verstappen, I think, when you apply all the styles - that will be a pretty great duo right there, between Max and Alonso.

“They’re both pretty aggressive too, so that would be fun to watch."

Hamilton consistency

“I’d be really curious to see where Lewis Hamilton fell in that too," added Patrick, who is the only female driver to win in IndyCar.

“Obviously he’s had so much success with all of his championships, I think that he might be really, really close right there.

“He is just so consistent, he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and so he would be snatching the lead when [Alonso and Verstappen] are going at it!”