While Fernando Alonso’s decade-long wait for a Grand Prix win extends, 2023 was his most successful year in Formula One since 2013 and saw the return of the Spaniard to consistent battles for the podium places and the occasional race lead.
In Aston Martin’s instantly competitive AMR23, Alonso frequently jostled against Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. It is the very competition that legions of fans wanted him to be in for years. Though 2023 somewhat tailed off for Alonso and his team, the two-time world champion finished fourth in the Drivers’ Standings, with Aston finishing fifth in the Constructors’.
It is a year that the double world champion has long craved for. He proved that, at 42, he still has what it takes to fight at Formula 1’s sharp end.
What made Fernando Alonso’s season so refreshing?
Fernando Alonso’s 2023 campaign re-established the universally recognised assertion that he is not only a legend of the sport; but is still competing at a standard-bearing level. Though in truth, Alonso has been operating at this scintillating level for years.
Outside of F1, the Spaniard has exercised his racing versatility and raced to further motorsport pedigree. Victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona, an FIA World Endurance Championship and successive Le Mans victories, further assured his place amongst motorsport’s greatest.
But within the sport he has so fabled for competing in, Alonso has been no less startling. He has simply been hampered by inadequate machinery, relative to his standards. In 2014, in his last season at Ferrari, he annihilated teammate Kimi Raikkonen. That year, Alonso scored 161 points, compared to the Finn’s 55. In 2016, driving for McLaren, Alonso dispensed of another former World Champion teammate, Jenson Button. That year, Alonso outscored the Brit by 54 points to 21. In 2018, the Spaniard whitewashed promising talent Stoffel Vandoorne in qualifying. He then thumped the Belgian by 50 points to 12 in the championship standings. This annihilation consequently ended the Belgian’s Formula 1 career.
2023: the chance Alonso had waited for
Fernando Alonso’s forte of outperforming his machinery meant that it was no surprise that he thrived in competitive machinery, once he was given the chance. His excellence in wheel-to-wheel combat at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix earned him a remarkable podium finish. His statement overtook on old foe, Lewis Hamilton and compatriot, Carlos Sainz, not only signalled his return to the mainstream, podium-finishing, lens but also exercising a thirst for competition where Alonso belongs.
At the next race, in Saudi Arabia, he seized the early lead, from second on the gird. He then stayed there for a handful of laps, leading pole-sitter, Sergio Perez. Alonso would then score another P3, reaching a century of podiums in his F1 career.
After the first eight rounds; Alonso finished on the podium in six of them, displaying remarkable speed, execution and consistency. He sat 3rd in the Drivers’ Championship. Unperturbed by his new environment at Aston Martin, the two-time champion was a chasm ahead of teammate, (injury-ridden) Lance Stroll. At this point of 2023, the Spaniard had scored over 75% of his team’s points.
some more flashes of brilliance
Fernando would only finish in the top three twice more for the remainder of the year, as the AMR23 was out-developed by its rivals. Yet, it was thanks to two remarkable performances from Alonso that made these happen. He mastered the changing conditions at the Dutch Grand Prix. Also, his impeccable, bordering on a superhuman, defensive masterclass at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, was yet more reminder of how special Alonso remains.
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The raw emotion and jubilance of Alonso earning that third-place finish in the latter, was every bit as rapturous, as the man himself. The richness of his race craft, as he toyed with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, carrying different racing lines through critical corners that lead onto long straights, to optimise his exit and straight-line speed, was met by an adoring Brazilian crowd. These were the same Brazilians who had seen him seal his pair of world championships, nearly two decades ago.
His preservation of tyre grip and battery, to be spent in the right defensive moment, was peak Alonso- canny and calculating. But more than anything, the breathtaking resilience to re-pass Perez (who was in a much quicker car), as he stuck with the Mexican in the turbulent air for one whole lap, was magnificent.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Complete Picture
After 22 rounds this year, Alonso eclipsed the emerging sensations of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, to fourth in the drivers’ standings, despite the dwindling competitiveness of his car. He finished on 206 points, scoring 73% of Aston Martin’s tally. Though teammate Stroll was thwarted by a broken wrist, from a pre-season cycling crash, he still did not finish on the podium, once.
Granted, Lance Stroll is not particularly a highly regarded driver in the sport. The Canadian still hasn’t escaped the supposition that his father, Lawrence, Aston Martin’s owner, is the reason for his seat. But over the years, Alonso has driven on another level. Even compared to previous teammates, Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen, he has proven to always be a step ahead.
2023 was the year that Alonso returned to the front again. But it’s not a return to Alonso at his ‘best’. This is because he has not fallen menacingly short of this level throughout his career. Even if it wasn’t for the positions that the Spaniard was accustomed to in 2023, Alonso’s frantic career has always been marked by his precision, aggression and endeavour, which has swamped many credible teammates and lacklustre machinery.
Ultimately, in 2023, Fernando Alonso reminded us he is still one of Formula One’s true elite. Though it is hard to intertwine Alonso and the conception of Formula One’s future, in the present, he is still in the same breath as Verstappen and Hamilton.
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