![]() ![]() Over the season, the relationships detonated inside the team, with the spectre of Spygate hanging over the season.īy autumn, it was perfectly clear that Alonso's multi-year deal was to be ripped up and, with McLaren being chucked out of the Constructors' for Spygate (a title they'd have won by nine points), attention turned to winning Hamilton the Drivers'. On paper, pairing Alonso and Hamilton should have worked – and it did for about 10 seconds of the first race, when rookie Hamilton went dancing around the outside of the reigning champion at Turn 1 in Australia. It brought him the 20 titles before jumping the good ship Enstone for HMS Woking for 2007, with McLaren boss Ron Dennis first pitching the idea whilst waiting for the podium at the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix, just after Alonso had clinched the title. It's hard to argue that switching from Minardi in 2001 to Renault as a test driver in 2002 – with a subsequent race drive in 2003 – was a bad career move for Alonso. With that in mind, has taken a look at those Alonso career moves which did not quite work out, starting with McLaren. His previous employers are firmly in the midfield – having not kicked on after a strong 2022 – whereas Aston appear to have broken into the so-called 'big-three', with Alonso claiming third in the Bahrain opener, just his fourth podium of the entire turbo hybrid era. ![]() However, it finally appears that Alonso could be in the right place at the right time following his switch to Aston Martin from Alpine. Instead he is a two-time champion who has come to represent something akin to the pantomime underdog, one let down by his equipment while the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and now Max Verstappen rack up wins and titles. Two extra in 2007, five in 2010 and just four in 2012 would have propelled Alonso to contention as one of the series' GOATs in that ever-going and never to be resolved debate. ![]() It is one of the more remarkable statistics in the history of the Formula 1 World Championship, that if Fernando Alonso had scored 11 more points he'd be a five-time champion.
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