Fernando Alonso showed last Sunday at Albert Park that he remains at the top of his game and with a relatively fast car, the Spaniard managed to show his competitiveness and his impeccable driving ability. Albeit with luck involved and Haas’s controlled disaster, Alonso scored ten points to start the season with his fifth place, his best finish in an inaugural Grand Prix of the season since his fourth place in 2014.
How does this result compare to the first-race-finishes from Alonso in the years when he fought for the championship?
Fernando Alonso finished the Australian GP for the first time since his return to McLaren in 2015. The Spanish driver has had better results in the inaugural race of the year in past seasons. But fifth is undoubtedly a great result for him and his fans, considering what McLaren was able to achieve with Honda (Alonso is already one point behind his season total in 2015, the first year with the Japanese engine supplier).
In his seventeen seasons in F1, Alonso started the year with a podium spot six times, including his championship-winning years (2005/2006). The Spaniard won the first race of the campaign twice (with Renault in 2006 and Ferrari in 2010). In five of his six starts of the season with a podium, he ended the year top-3 in the World Driver’s Championship. The other occasion when he got the season going with a podium (2004) he managed to be fourth in the championship.
Fernando: “Things are going to get better and better.” Thoughts from a double points finish at the #AusGP: https://t.co/CV8gTcepJL ?? pic.twitter.com/PI00unZACE
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) 25 de marzo de 2018
Fifth in the First Grand Prix, will he win a race in 2018?
With all the circumstances that helped at Melbourne last Sunday and allowed Alonso to go up in the classification, he matched his best result with McLaren since his highlighted return after five seasons with Ferrari. Given this start with the Renault power unit, can the Spaniard take the Woking-based team to a Grand Prix win in 2018?.
From a purely statistical standpoint, Alonso has a shot to be at the top spot of the podium this year or at least to taste some champagne. Why? he finished fifth in the first GP of the year twice in his long and decorated career, with Renault in 2009 and with Ferrari in 2012. Ferrari’s F2012 transformed into a 3-time race winner. Also, reached a season-high 13 podiums and sat on pole twice.
On the other hand, the less-competitive R29 from 2009 was not perfect, but Alonso scored a podium with a third-place performance at the 2009 Singapore GP. That shows that it is not a bad start to the current year.
In fact, Alonso himself said that he hopes McLaren can “catch Red Bull” and marked the Austrian team as their next target. Red Bull is above McLaren at this time and it is not a secret. Daniel Ricciardo‘s pace compared to Alonso’s in the closing stages of last Sunday’s GP showed it. This makes the Spaniard’s hold off Max Verstappen a lot more impressive, even on an Albert Park circuit where it was impossible to overtake or get close enough to try.
Pit to Fernando: “That’s P5, great drive Fernando.”
Fernando to pit: “Thanks guys, very proud of you all. Now we can fight.” #AusGP pic.twitter.com/yPqQ8EY0MV— McLaren (@McLarenF1) 25 de marzo de 2018
Alonso Relishes The McLaren-Renault partnership
Alonso had the greatest highlight of his career with the French brand in 2005 and 2006 when he won his two championships and ended Michael Schumacher‘s run of titles with Ferrari. 17 of the Spaniard’s 32 wins in F1 were with the French brand.
Buen inicio con los dos coches puntuando y mucho margen de mejora. Gracias Australia.
Good start for us with double points. More performance to be unlock. Thanks Australia. #mclaren #f1 #14 #melbourne #ausGP pic.twitter.com/RpbkiwLzyG
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) 25 de marzo de 2018
This season is the seventh year Alonso is linked to Renault, the first as an engine supplier. In all of the other six seasons, the Spanish driver enjoyed at least one podium. Also, he won at least one race on four of those occasions. Renault has proven to have a place in Alonso’s heart.
Next Stop
Bahrain and the Sakhir Circuit with its long straights is next in the F1 calendar. Alonso showed tremendous excitement after the Australian GP and hopes to carry that effusiveness on to Bahrain. It won’t be easy since every race doesn’t come with the same amount of luck that many enjoyed last Sunday. But Alonso really knows how to take advantage of any opportunity and he is a three-time Bahrain winner with two different teams.
Great start to the season for McLaren, with Stoffel Vandoorne finishing in the points too. Bahrain will be a hard test for them, they better be prepared.
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