Fernando Alonso is one of the greatest drivers in Formula 1 history. He’s won two world champions, both in the mid-noughties with Renault.
He ranks seventh all-time for Grand Prix victories with 32, in between Ayrton Senna (41) and Nigel Mansell (31). The last of those wins came at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, but only once in that period has his team-mate tasted victory (Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in Hungary 2021).
Alonso also ranks in the top 15 for pole positions (22) and fifth for podiums (106). He’s one of only seven drivers in history to reach a century in the latter category.
Even though the Spaniard already leads the way for total race entries (386), he’s showing no sign of stopping. He recently signed a two-year contract extension at Aston Martin that will keep him racing until at least the end of 2026.
Alonso will be 45 by the time that deal ends but the F1 paddock still regards him as one of the sport’s elite drivers. Former racer Christian Klien believes he’s operating at an ‘insane’ level.
He’s only lost out to his team-mate in the championship twice in his last 14 seasons. During that spell, he’s comfortably beaten the likes of Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen and Lance Stroll.
Former Fernando Alonso teammate thinks he’s just as quick in qualifying
Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Alonso’s former McLaren partner Stoffel Vandoorne claimed he could match him over one lap in a competitive car. The pair raced alongside one another in 2017 and 2018.
Alonso scored 67 points to Vandoorne’s 26 in that period and he beat him rather brutally in qualifying. The final head-to-head score on a Saturday was 37-3.
But host Tom Clarkson felt that Vandoorne would have truly shown what he could do up against Alonso in a faster car. McLaren finished ninth in his first season, and sixth in his second.
Clarkson said: “If you’d walked into a competitive McLaren, I absolutely believe that you would have been as quick as Fernando Alonso, certainly over one lap.”
Vandoorne then replied: “I believe so, and I still think it’s one of my strengths. Whatever car I jump into, I usually don’t need a lot of time to get used to it and be competitive.
“Okay, there’s the whole thing about being at 100% with them, but I think I can get to 99% very quickly and then that last little percentage is always a little bit more complicated.
“I do believe, if the car back then had been a little bit more competitive, and you suddenly start fighting for top fives and maybe a podium every now and then, I think the perception of everyone just changes so much.”
Stoffel Vandoorne failed to build on GP2 promise at McLaren
Vandoorne arrived in F1 amid plenty of excitement. He’d won the GP2 title at a canter in 2015, finishing a whopping 160 points of nearest challenger Alexander Rossi.
He boasted the highest win percentage of any driver in the series before the F2 rebrand in 2017. Even Lewis Hamilton couldn’t match him.
He further underlined his potential in 2016 when he received an emergency call-up to race at the Bahrain Grand Prix after Alonso injured himself in a crash in Australia. He out-qualified 2009 world champion Jenson Button and scored a point in 10th.
But when he received a full-time drive following Button’s retirement, he failed to impress. And that led to McLaren moving on for the 2019 season as they hired Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.
Vandoorne, now the reserve driver at Aston Martin, has at least enjoyed success in other categories since. He finished on the podium at Le Mans in 2019 and won the Formula E title in 2021/22.
The post ‘I believe so’: 32-year-old driver with just 26 F1 points says he could match Fernando Alonso over one lap appeared first on F1 Oversteer.