In between the dominant years of Red Bull from 2010 to 2013, the 2012 season stands out as an outlier that gave F1 fans one of the most competitive and exciting title fights. That year is most fondly remembered for having seven different winners in the first seven races. But for Sebastian Vettel, it was the year when he edged out Fernando Alonso to become a three-time world champion.
Looking back on that memorable moment of triumph when he was crowned champion at the Brazilian GP, Vettel took to his Instagram account to share Christian Horner’s comments after the race.
The German wrote, “An unbelievable end to what has been a really incredible season.” For Alonso, however, it was one of his darkest days in the sport. The Spaniard fell short by only three points to lose out on his third F1 world championship.
View this post on Instagram
That said, Vettel drove a true champion’s race that day at the Interlagos circuit to snatch victory away from Alonso. After being spun out to plum last on the opening lap, the #5 driver battled the conditions and rivals on track to finish in P6 — enough to stay clear of second-placed Alonso in the drivers’ standings.
Throughout that season, there was a lot of competition for Grand Prix wins. At one point, there were five drivers in contention for the championship, including Vettel and Alonso. Interestingly, after the Hungarian GP, the Spaniard was leading the championship standings with a 40-point advantage, not over Vettel, but his teammate Mark Webber.
But later on, the German driver made a charge during the Asian leg of the season with four consecutive wins, whereas Alonso lost out significant ground in the title battle, which was the turning point of the season.
Alonso is still hunting that third title a decade after painful loss
It has been more than a decade since Alonso lost that title to the German driver. His last win came more than a decade ago, at the 2013 Spanish GP. However, whilst Vettel has moved on to spend time with his family after retiring from the sport at the end of 2022, Alonso is still hungry to recapture his lost glory.
Even at the age of 43, the Spanish racing ace is pretty adamant that he wants to fight for that elusive third title. Going into 2026, with the likes of Adrian Newey and Honda now at Aston Martin, Alonso knows this is probably his last chance to gun for the crown.
“Probably – or at least to start with – it will be my last season in Formula 1 because my contract finishes at the end of 2026, so it’s the time of delivering and the time of truth. High expectations,” he said as quoted by Motorsport Week.
The Aston Martin team seems to be shaping up well with new personnel like Newey and Andy Cowell coming to lead their F1 project. Alonso will hope that they deliver a championship-capable car for the 2026 season so that he can hopefully end his 20-year drought for the championship.
