F1’s current four-way tussle for title supremacy is unlikely to last until the final moments of the 2007 season.
That is the opinion of reigning double world champion Fernando Alonso, who presently shares the top of the drivers’ standings with his rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen’s teammate Felipe Massa, meanwhile, is just five points adrift.
“The two Ferrari and McLaren drivers will fight together probably until the middle of the season,” Spaniard Alonso said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
He added: “Eventually one or two will have some bad luck or stop achieving such good results, so that at the end of the championship probably only two or three will be left to fight.”
Alonso conceded that English sensation Hamilton’s debut this year was “a surprise for everyone”.
“He is very fast and deserves his ranking in the championship. Hopefully he can keep it up for the whole year,” the Spaniard said.
While discounting some of the current frontrunners, however, Alonso says a maiden victory for BMW-Sauber’s impressive Nick Heidfeld this year cannot be ruled out.
“At the moment there is a small gap from the two top teams to BMW,” he said.
“But perhaps at some circuits there will not be such a gap. We saw in Bahrain that Nick is capable of fighting for the front positions.
“I think there will be races when not only McLaren and Ferrari are on the podium, but Nick as well. And perhaps he will even fight for a victory,” Alonso added.
