FERNANDO ALONSO, THE GENIUS FROM ASTURIA

FERNANDO ALONSO, THE GENIUS FROM ASTURIAS

Fernando Alonso is a driver who likes to monopolize 100% of his team's attention. Many fans question the Spaniard's talent due to his actions against Hamilton in 2007 and Massa in 2010, yet his performances relative to his teammates demonstrate that he is an exceptional driver.

Alonso won two championships in cars that were not dominant (the 2005 and 2006 Renaults) and played a decisive role in Schumacher's first retirement in 2006. It is safe to say that the Spaniard was the only rival truly on the German's level following the death of Ayrton Senna.

For the reasons mentioned above, and despite being disliked by some, the Spaniard deserves a page on this site.

A young Alonso taking his first steps in karting

FERNANDO ALONSO'S CAREER OUTSIDE F1:

Spanish Karting Champion (1988–1998; 11 titles)
Junior Karting World Champion (1996)
Karting World Champion (1998)
Euro Open Movistar Champion (1999)
Formula Nissan Champion (1999)
4th place in F3000 (2000) (finished behind Junqueira, Minassian, and Webber)
FIA World Endurance Championship Winner (2018–2019)
24 Hours of Le Mans Winner (Toyota) (2019)

NOTE: In 1998, during his first Formula Nissan test in the rain, he was 4 seconds faster than the other drivers. In December 1999, during his first test with Minardi, he was less than 1 second slower than race driver Marc Gené. In 2000, he tested with Minardi again and was 0.1 seconds slower than Mazzacane. In F3000, he won a race at Spa at the age of 19.

F1 CAREER AND OTHER CATEGORIES:

In 2001, he made his debut with the weak Minardi team and outqualified his teammate (Tarso Marques) 11 times, as well as occasionally outqualifying the Benetton drivers, who theoretically had a better car than Minardi.

In 2002, he spent the year as a test driver for Renault.

In 2003, in just his second race, he took pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver in history to do so. The Spaniard also took pole and won the Hungarian Grand Prix in commanding fashion; by the end of the season, he had outperformed his teammate Jarno Trulli, a highly regarded driver in F1. Alonso finished an impressive sixth in the championship.

In 2004, he had a very strong season; when his teammate (Trulli) was replaced by Jacques Villeneuve, he completely outclassed the Canadian driver, finishing ahead of him in all three races they contested together.

2005 was Fernando Alonso's year. Despite driving a car that was slower than the McLarens of Räikkönen and Montoya, his incredible consistency saw him crowned the youngest champion in F1 history at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Kimi x Alonso in 2005:

Wins: 7 x 7

Starts: 10 x. 9 (0.1s for Kimi, not counting practice in Japan, which was partly dry and partly wet.)

Finishes: 8 x 10

Poles: 5 x 6

Fastest Laps: 10 x. 2

Podiums: 12 x 15

Points: 112 x 133

>> A closely contested season, McLaren had the fastest car, but Renault had the most reliable car.

Alonso and Räikkönen were the first drivers to dethrone Schumacher in the 21st century.

In 2006, Fernando Alonso faced the greatest challenge of his career: Michael Schumacher. At the start of the year, Renault had the upper hand, but after the FIA (as always!) banned Renault's mass dampers, Ferrari became the car to beat; nevertheless, Fernando Alonso managed to clinch the championship, dethroning seven-time champion Schumacher.

Schumacher x Alonso in 2006:

Starts: 9 x 9 (Schumacher ahead by 0.2s)

Finishes: 8 x. 10

Wins: 7 x 7

Poles: 4 x. 6

Fastest Laps: 7 x 5

Podiums: 12 x 14

Points: 121 x 134

Retirements: 1 x 1

>> Schumacher and Alonso's numbers show that it was a very closely contested season and that Alonso was Schumacher's best rival following Senna's death.

Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher: two F1 geniuses.

In 2007, everyone thought Alonso and Kimi would share F1 victories and titles, but another genius emerged: Lewis Hamilton. It was a very closely contested season, with Ferrari holding a narrow edge by the end of the year. Alonso and Hamilton battled it out and split the team's points, allowing Kimi Raikkonen to come from behind as the underdog and be crowned world champion.

Hamilton x Alonso in 2007:

Starts ahead: 10 x 7

Finishes ahead: 7 x 10

Points: 109x109

Wins: 4x4

2nd places: 5x4

3rd places: 3x4

Podiums: 12x12

Pole positions: 6x2

Fastest laps: 2x3

Issues: 4x5

Retirements: 1x1

>> A very evenly matched duel, Hamilton finished as runner-up based on the tie-breaker of second-place finishes and Alonso finished in 3rd place.

Hamilton and Alonso: two geniuses who boosted McLaren's performance

In 2008 and 2009, following his feud with McLaren and Hamilton, Alonso moved to Renault; he spent two seasons without notable success, hampered by the lack of competitiveness of the French team's car. He won two races in 2008.

In 2010, Alonso moved to Ferrari, a team that started the year strongly; however, the Red Bull squad, featuring Adrian Newey, Webber, and Vettel, later mounted a championship comeback. By the end of the season, the Austrian team was performing significantly better than Ferrari, and Vettel clinched the title in the final race, having never led the championship standings at any point prior to that. In the 2010 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Alonso got stuck behind Petrov and failed to secure the points needed to become champion. The four-point gap to Vettel demonstrated that the Spaniard could well have won the title.

In 2011, Red Bull fielded the dominant car while Ferrari struggled; the Spaniard finished fourth in the championship.

The 2012 season was arguably Alonso's best, he was even compared to Ayrton Senna. Although the Ferrari was only the third-best car of the season, behind Red Bull and McLaren, Fernando managed to take the title fight to the final race, finishing just three points behind champion Vettel. Based on his performances that season, he deserved the title, but his championship hopes were altered by the misfortune of being caught up in the crash involving Grosjean at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.

In 2013, Red Bull crushed the competition, and Alonso once again finished as runner-up with Ferrari, placing ahead of Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate.

Alonso x Massa (2010–2013):

Race starts: 59 x 18

Race finishes: 65 x 12

Points: 1029 x 496

>> Alonso completely outclassed Felipe Massa, the Brazilian only kept pace with the Spaniard in 2010.

Alonso and Massa at Ferrari

In 2014, Ferrari performed very poorly, yet Alonso still dominated his teammate Kimi Raikkonen, the very driver who had given Alonso a tough fight back in 2005, when he won his first world title. This proved that Alonso belonged in the league of F1 geniuses.

Alonso x Raikkonen in 2014:

Starts: 16 x 3

Finishes: 16 x 3

Points: 161 x 55

>> Alonso completely outclassed Raikkonen.

In 2015 and 2016, Alonso raced alongside Jenson Button at McLaren; he faced many issues in the first year and was outscored by the Englishman. However, in the second year and across the two seasons combined, the Spaniard beat Button:

Alonso x Button (2015 and 2016):

Starts: 25 x 13

Finishes: 17 x 19

Points: 65 x 37

>> Alonso lost in the first year but easily defeated Button in the second.

Button and Alonso: two world champions at McLaren in 2015 and 2016.

In 2017 and 2018, McLaren was struggling, and the Spaniard had two lackluster seasons. It is worth noting that during that time, Alonso competed in the Indy 500 and led the race for 27 laps before his engine failed near the end.

Fernando Alonso stepped away from F1 at the end of 2018 but remained active in racing, winning the 2018–2019 FIA World Endurance Championship and the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans (with Toyota).

Alonso returned to F1 in 2021 to race for the Alpine team, he finished 10th that season and beat his teammate Esteban Ocon. In 2022, still with Alpine, he suffered six mechanical failures compared to just one for Ocon, which is why he finished behind his teammate in the championship, in 9th place.

Alonso x Ocon (2021 and 2022):

Starts: 23 x 21

Finishes: 19 x 24

Breaks: 7 x 2

Points: 162 x 166

From 2023 onwards, Fernando Alonso raced for Aston Martin, securing a solid 4th place in the championship. However, in 2024 and 2025, Aston Martin lacked competitive cars, and the Spaniard did not have strong race results.

In 2026, Adrian Newey joined Aston Martin, unfortunately, the car performed poorly at the start of the season but improved somewhat in the second half.

During these years, Alonso completely overshadowed his teammate Lance Stroll. The Canadian had given Sebastian Vettel a run for his money at Aston Martin in 2021 and 2022. This point of comparison suggests that, in theory, Alonso, despite having only two titles, is a better driver than four-time champion Vettel.

Fernando Alonso and Adrian Newey two geniuses, each in their own field.

CAR STYLE:

Since arriving in F1, Fernando Alonso has always preferred cars with a tendency toward understeer (front-end bias); this type of car allows for deeper braking into corners and better rear-end traction upon exiting them.

This preference of Alonso's is borne out by the fact that drivers who dislike front-end-biased cars (Massa and Räikkönen) struggled significantly to match the Spaniard's pace, whereas drivers who favor them (Hamilton and Button) performed close to or even better than him.

Some great drivers from the past also liked cars with slight understeer: Stewart, Lauda, Piquet, Prost, and Button.

LONGEVITY:

Another characteristic of Spanish is his longevity. If anyone has any doubts, one need only look at the fact that Lauda, Piquet, Prost, Mansell, Häkkinen, and Schumacher all retired before the age of 40, and compare that to Alonso, who is still active and performing well.

CONCLUSION

Fernando Alonso is a driver who should be remembered for his immense ability to perform well in any car, his race consistency, and his longevity in the sport.

What is most impressive about the Spanish driver is that, when facing top drivers in cars with similar performance, he consistently maintained a high level of competitiveness and defeated almost all of them. See below:

Räikkönen in 2005 and 2014
Schumacher in 2006
Hamilton in 2007
Button in 2015 and 2016

For this reason, Alonso belongs on the list of F1's greatest geniuses, despite the internal issues he experienced at some of the teams he drove for. Michael Schumacher himself admitted in 2008:

"Fernando Alonso is on my level, and that played a part in my retirement." (Michael Schumacher in 2006)