F1 pre-season testing: Lewis Hamilton says new cars are more fun

But Alonso said that a driver’s skill was not as important as before, because optimum energy management meant some corners were taken slower than they could be because doing so gained more lap time from having extra energy to deploy on straights than was lost through the bends.

Alonso said: “You’re always on the limit on the grip. It depends on the corners. You’re always on the limit on the grip in a rental car if you push to the limit.

“But the high-speed corners, especially, I think it’s less challenging. You have to say that. There’s nothing wrong to say [that].

“In Turn 12 in Bahrain, and some of the corners maybe in Barcelona, you decide to save energy and go through the corner at a slower speed so you have more energy for the straight.

“From a driver’s point of view the skills matter less because you can go as fast as the energy choice you make before that corner, so it’s a different Formula 1.”

Following Verstappen’s criticism of the new engines last week, in which he said the new cars were like “Formula E on steroids” and “just not Formula 1”, he said: “You’re fighting the grip. You’re on the limit of what you have, for sure. It’s just not as much now.

“Of course, I also know that this probably is one of the worst [circuits], in terms of the grip feeling that you get from a car, because of the tarmac being so aggressive.

“A lot less downforce but at the same time, you also don’t get a lot of combined grip [in the braking and turning phase] at the moment. It’s a bit hard to manage.”

Hamilton said he did not yet have a clear picture on how the new rules would affect racing, and said: “I don’t know if it’s going to be better.”