Jun.17 (GMM) At least two of Lewis Hamilton's key rivals would beat the 23-year-old British driver in the same car.

That is the belief of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who told The Times newspaper that he ranks former double world champion Fernando Alonso as the best current driver on the grid.

"If he was still in a McLaren he would be showing Lewis the way home -- I don't think there is any doubt about that," Ecclestone, 77, said.

Bernie said he sympathised with Spaniard Alonso, who moved back to Renault this year, after he fell out so spectacularly with McLaren as rookie Hamilton's teammate in 2007.

"I never asked the guy - I'm going to ask him one day - whether he was told (by McLaren) he was number one.

"Because if he didn't ask and he wasn't told, he would have assumed he was. Having a guy that's never been in a F1 car in the team with him, he'd expect to be number one wouldn't he?

"And that's what the problem was. When he found out, although he should have been number one, of course he wasn't," Ecclestone added.

The F1 supremo also rates Robert Kubica, the Canadian grand prix winner and new championship leader, very highly.

"If you saw him in a McLaren or a Ferrari, I think I'd put my money on him blowing away Hamilton," Ecclestone said.