The beginnings at Minardi
It was 2001 when Giancarlo Minardi decided to bring back the Brazilian Tarso Marques, who had previously participated in the 1996 and 1997 championships without a permanent seat. In the 2001 season, Marques shared the garage with the then relatively unknown Fernando Alonso, ready to make his Formula 1 debut with the Faenza-based team. Twenty-three years later, at 43 years old and with just over 400 GP races, the Spaniard is still in the circuit, now driving for Aston Martin, with two world titles won in 2004 and 2005 and a total of 32 victories.
The task at hand
A unique career, still ongoing (and expected to last a few more seasons), combined with a talent that immediately struck Marques, as he admitted in an interview published by Aston Martin: “I had heard about Fernando as a talented young man coming from the junior categories,” the 48-year-old recounted, “I knew he was a very young and very fast driver, but the first time I saw him was two weeks before the first race of the 2001 season. One of my responsibilities was to guide Fernando, as I had more experience.”
Fernando Alonso: the best
Fernando Alonso quickly achieved this goal despite not having a competitive car, and the two drivers also became friends. Marques, however, was very impressed by the Spaniard’s rapid development and now openly favors his former colleague for his talent: “I’m a fan of Ayrton Senna, like all Brazilians, and there are recent legends like Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, and now Max Verstappen, so it’s very difficult to compare drivers from different eras. But I believe Fernando is as good as, or better than, them,” he added. “If I had to choose a driver for my team, I would choose Fernando. I think he was better than Schumacher when they went head-to-head, and – Brazilians will be angry – I would say he’s also better than Senna.”
Who compares to Fernando Alonso?
For Tarso Marques, the former Ferrari and McLaren driver came out on top against Michael Schumacher, explaining the differences between the Spaniard and Ayrton Senna: “Ayrton was incredible, a natural talent, but the truth is he made more mistakes than Fernando. Alonso quickly learned not only how to drive fast, but also intelligently, which I’d also say about Lewis Hamilton. Fernando is probably the greatest, alongside Hamilton. I believe Fernando should be at his level in terms of titles; it’s just that sometimes he didn’t have the right car. I think he deserves more titles than he has. The two world titles are fantastic, but they don’t reflect his talent. He should have many more.” – the Brazilian racing driver who participated in 24 Formula One Grands Prix concluded.
Leave a Reply