Fernando Alonso Proving Just Why He’s Such A Legend

Fernando Alonso, lest it is forgotten, stood fourth last year. He outperformed both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz jr., the latter his close friend and big fan. In so doing, he emerged P4 with 206 points to his name and it was a year where he collected podiums; his firs three culminating in dominant podium finishes for this famed Aston Martin team.

Interestingly, while he may not have scored podiums in either of the first two races of the brand new 2024 World Championship season, he has managed to score points in each of the contests held at Sakhir (home to the Bahrain Grand Prix) and Jeddah (home to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix).

While it ought to be reminded that the legendary Spaniard didn’t exactly enjoy a fantastic start to his 2024 campaign in scoring a P9 result at the opening race of this season, he would soon make it up in the next contest that followed.

Was the P5 he scored at Jeddah already one of the most under-appreciated moments of this season? This is a subject for another day and warrants greater introspection. But what may not merit much of a debate for it would be sort of a no-brainer would be questioning whether Alonso still has it in him to battle a much younger teammate in Lance Stroll.

For this, if you think about it, is a pretty straightforward talking point; Fernando Alonso, the oldest driver on the grid is still pretty much racing the wheels of his Aston Martin while his much younger teammate, Lance Stroll is still coming to grips with the onerous challenge of competing against a titan of the sport.

But if you were to make sense of just how far ahead in the game is Fernando Alonso in comparison to Lance Stroll, simply thinking of the number of podiums both drivers have scored (or not scored actually) would serve a case in point.

Since the last year and until the present date, and there have been no fewer than 23 Formula 1 Grands Prix in such time, the Canadian Aston Martin driver has failed to pick up a single podium.

Yet, Fernando Alonso has collected 8 out of 23 efforts, which doing simple schoolboy math suggests is a podium in every third F1 race.

There have been races where Alonso has seemed about as fast as Red Bull’s multiple world champion and clearly the driver out in the lead this year, Max Verstappen. Some have even wondered as to what might transpire if he was afforded the immense opportunity of driving the current RB, i.e., the RB 20?

Then there are all these talks that Mercedes’ Toto Wolff may even approach Alonso for a role in 2025 season given there’s a certain vacancy in the wake of Hamilton’s highly-surprising move to Ferrari.

But regardless, Fernando Alonso is a driver who ardently combines a wealth of experience and a very superior racing craft. On top of that, he fears none. His podium at taxing circuits such as Monaco last year proved his capability to attack even in stringent circuits that don’t quite permit much overtaking. He still has it. All that he is looking for at the moment, it could be argued, is his first podium soon after which it is expected he will build further momentum to dominate even further.