GPBlog's Top 50 drivers in 50 days - #11 - Fernando Alonso

Hello and welcome back once again to GPBlog’s countdown of our top 50 F1 drivers of all time. We’re profiling one F1 legend at a time ahead of the season opening Australian Grand Prix. Yesterday was all about Gilles Villeneuve, but today we’re looking at one of the modern greats in Fernando Alonso.

The only Spaniard to win an F1 race, Alonso burst onto the scene and broke the domination of Michael Schumacher before a period of bad career choices saw him leave F1 without as much success as he could have had.

Alonso made his debut for Minardi in 2001 but was unable to score a point for the Italian backmarkers and left the team at the end of the season to join Renault as test driver.

He was promoted to a full time seat in 2003 and won his first race at the Hungarian Grand Prix that year, outperforming teammate Jarno Trulli.

In 2004 Alonso had more consistent results but was unable to secure a second race win. 2005 was Alonso’s first golden year as Renault finally produced a car that could regularly beat Ferrari.

He took victory in three of the first four races to take a sizeable early lead in the title race. He followed it up with further wins at the Nurburgring, Magny-Cours and Hockenheim to keep McLaren star Kimi Raikkonen behind.

Six podiums in the final six races confirmed his title and he picked up his form again when 2006 started.

A run of nine top two finishes including five wins gave him an advantage over the retiring Schumacher. The German then won five races before Alonso too another victory, making the season finale a nervy affair.

Alonso held his cool to finish second and claim consecutive titles aged just 25. One of F1’s hottest properties, Alonso made the move to McLaren, partnering a fresh-faced rookie by the name of Lewis Hamilton.

The pair were locked in a season long battle for dominance at the team, winning four races each and it looked like the title would be a showdown between the two.

However in the dying races of the season, Kimi Raikkonen put together an incredible run and the Ferrari man pipped them both by a single point at the final round in Brazil.

After the conflict-filled year with McLaren Alonso opted to rejoin Renault for 2008, having less success, apart from the controversial victory in Singapore and another win in Japan.

2009 was winless, so in 2010 Alonso made another move, this time to Ferrari. His career for the Scuderia started perfectly, with a win in Bahrain.

In one of F1’s craziest seasons, Alonso came into form at the perfect time, taking wins in Italy, Singapore and Korea to lead the title race heading to the final event in Abu Dhabi.

Unfortunately for Alonso, a poorly timed pitstop lead to him being stuck behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov, meaning he could only finish P7 as Sebastian Vettel won the race and claimed his first world title.

He won just once in 2011 as Vettel stormed to another title, but 2012 was perhaps his finest season in an F1 car.

Driving the third quickest car on the grid at best, Alonso managed to push Vettel all the way to the final race. He took just three race wins all year and it was his consistency that kept him in the fight, picking up podiums where he had no right to.

He could only manage P2 at the final race of the season, and with Vettel in sixth, the Red Bull man took his third title by just three points, leaving Alonso distraught.

He finished a distant second again to Vettel in 2013, taking his final win in F1 at his home race in Barcelona, before a poor 2014 for Ferrari saw him move to McLaren.

McLaren were just about to embark on their awful time with Honda as engine supplier and the relationship wasn’t a happy one (again) as Alonso failed to step on an F1 podium again.

Sadly Alonso is mostly remembered for his raging radio messages whilst at the British team, and he quit F1 at the end of 2018.

Rumours still rumble about his return, but one thing for sure is that Alonso was one of the most naturally gifted drivers ever seen on the F1 grid. He had far more potential than his two championships show, and he deserves to be right up there with the greats of motorsport.