I see a lot of tweets on Twitter about Formula One. I also watch a hell of a lot of the sport; I have done since I was five. That is not surprising given the popularity of the sport. I also see a lot of fans and pundits comment on the drivers, and in 2014 I have seen a lot of drivers not get the credit that they deserve, but I have also seen drivers get too much credit in a way for their efforts. One such driver is Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Now do not get me wrong, Fernando Alonso is a phenomenal racing driver. He won two World Drivers’ Championships very, very impressively. But a lot of people seem to think that he is some sort of demi-God for essentially putting a Ferrari into the top 3 on a few occasions. That is definitely not the case. In 2014, Mercedes are quite clearly significantly better than any other package out there. Anybody with half a brain cell wouldn’t argue that. Red Bull, despite starting this season well on the back foot, have been probably the second best, despite a fair few reliability issues for Sebastian Vettel and a lack of pace on low-downforce circuits. Behind those two, it is a toss-up between Williams and Ferrari for third best, Ferrari at the start of the year, and Williams in recent races. However at times, especially when mechanical grip has been really important, Ferrari looked second best only behind Mercedes. I do feel Alonso has been very good this season, I have given him 8.5 out of ten for his efforts, but that’s no higher than Valtteri Bottas or Lewis Hamilton.
Now a lot of people, including Ferrari themselves, will claim that their car is absolutely dreadful and is probably not even as good as the Force India. Anybody who claims this is probably wrong. It has happened every single year in the last few years that Ferrari will claim that ‘our car is only the fourth best’ when that certainly is not the case. The World Constructors’ Championship is usually a good indication as to where the overall package of a car and team stands. Ferrari has been third, third, second and third in the last four years, so that doesn’t add up. The car is not as bad as they claim it to be. Although Ferrari generally doesn’t seem to have the pace of some cars in front of them on the track, they are certainly more reliable. Fernando Alonso has never had a DNF due to a mechanical failure in a Ferrari. He had an engine blow up in Malaysia in his third race for the team yet was still classified but that’s it. To finish first, first you must finish, and Alonso has had numerous races where he has been on the podium solely due to faster cars retiring and people worship him as a result.
While lots of people seem to think that his driving in 2012 was incredible, I do not. Don’t get me wrong, he had a remarkable season that year, arguably his best, but his first half of the season was no better than Vettel’s second half. We also saw Alonso fail to maximise his result due to poor qualifying on a number of occasions that year, which caused Alonso to be tangled up on the first lap, while Vettel was hampered at times through no fault of his own. While I feel that Alonso performed better than Vettel that year, I feel that both were beaten by Lewis Hamilton in terms of who impressed me the most. It’s a similar story in 2010. Many will claim that Ferrari’s strategy in the championship finale cost Alonso the championship, which is nonsense. Hitting Jenson Button in Australia, jumping the start in China, crashing in Monaco, crashing in Belgium and an illegal overtake in Britain all cost Alonso the championship that year. Hamilton again was the driver that impressed me most that year. In 2011 and 2013, Vettel was the driver who dominated the championship and with it was my driver of the year. 2007 was clearly a shambolic year for Alonso. He should have easily taken the title, but a combination of a very public falling out with McLaren, being simply outpaced by rookie team mate Hamilton on a number of occasions and some really poor races including famously being overtaken by Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri meant that he missed out on another title that he could well have won. Alonso really should have taken a title with Ferrari, but a few mistakes clearly cost him. Many say that he’s amazing simply for nearly delivering a championship with the Scuderia. I don’t think so. If he did achieve it, then yes, but as he hasn’t, then he isn’t.
I think a prime example of people getting too worked up about Alonso was the race at Silverstone this year. Both the Ferrari and Williams drivers were messed up in qualifying by their teams, and were towards the back of the grid. With this, Valtteri Bottas’ Williams was 14th on the grid and Alonso 16th. After making a mistake and placing his car outside of the grid box, Alonso earned himself a five second stop and go penalty. This cost him any chance of a podium, while Bottas finished an incredible second. Alonso was only sixth. While the Finn gained a decent amount of recognition for his effort, many seemed to think that Alonso was incredible for not maximising the car’s potential in that race, which sort of baffles me a bit.
He also seems to criticise Vettel for ‘only winning in an Adrian Newey car’. While that is true, how many titles has Alonso won in a car not designed by Bob Bell? That’s right, zero. Renault also took the titles in both those years. When Alonso had a dominant car, which he did have at times, he did no more than what Vettel did between 2009 and 2014 when the German had dominant machinery, which I must emphasise was not all of the time.
The general consensus amongst fans is that: if you win three World Drivers’ Championships, which nine drivers have so far achieved, you are without a doubt amongst the all-time greats. If you manage to win titles for two different teams, which a further two drivers has achieved, you are also in that same ranking. Should Alonso achieve that title with Ferrari which he is after, then I cannot argue his status as an all-time great, but he is yet to achieve that, and while his race pace is clearly not the problem, it’s very good, it’s little mistakes and it is possibly his team building ability (something which Michael Schumacher was very famous for having) which could well have cost him. If he gets another shot at the World Championship, he must take it, because he will run out of years. In terms of who is the driver of the generation? It’s definitely Hamilton for me, but Vettel is closing in on that title in my eyes. Alonso is certainly a very good racing driver on a Sunday, but as an overall package? I feel that those two are better. Maybe once Alonso has won a title with Ferrari, I will shut up, but until then, he hasn’t done enough for me to say that he is one of the greatest nor the best of his generation.
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