The Flaws in Celebrating Fernando Alonso’s 400 Races: A Closer Look at Missed Opportunities

The 2024 Mexico City GP, this weekend, is arguably one of the most important days in the history of F1. Fernando Alonso has reached a milestone that many drivers of his generation or even the younger drivers could not have even comprehended — driving in his 400th Grand Prix.

Since his debut in 2001, Alonso has gone on to drive for some of the biggest names in the sport like Ferrari and McLaren, and has also achieved, not once but twice, a dream that every F1 driver has — winning the world championship.

These 400 Grands Prix have also seen him rack up an impressive record at the pinnacle of motorsport. Yet, after 32 wins, 106 podiums, and two world titles, the Spaniard’s career is sometimes looked back upon with an aftertaste of regret.

Today, we chart back into the pivotal moments of Fernando Alonso, which might at first glance feel like missed opportunities that defined a wasted career but when looked at closer, shows the true grit of an F1 world champion and generational talent.

Winning against Schumacher but losing out to Hamilton and Vettel

After his debut in 2001 for the Minardi outfit, Alonso was quickly picked up by a Flavio Briatore-led Renault. At the height of Michael Schumacher’s dominance with Ferrari, a rising Alonso was not necessarily anyone’s answer. But he gripped the championship by its throat.

Ending Schumacher’s winning streak, Alonso went on to win two consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006 for the Enstone-based team (now Alpine). It seemed as though the Spaniard was destined for greatness. And then, McLaren came calling.

The ‘first’ missed opportunity that many paddock experts and fans point out was his single-season spell at McLaren in 2007. He came into the team as the two-time reigning world champion and was pitted against an up-and-coming F1 rookie — Lewis Hamilton.

That said, the regulation changes that year meant that Alonso had to ditch his handy yet ‘aggressive steering’ style, and that slowed him down a bit. Hamilton on the other hand was flying. At the end of the season, the rookie got the better of the champion — finishing equal on points but the Briton pipped him to P2 on count back.

There was a lot of inner-team politics at play as well. Alonso’s Hungarian GP qualifying pitlane shenanigans to hold Hamilton up did not go down too well with team boss Ron Dennis and it was clear that the Spaniard was on his way out.

Then came two years back with Renault in 2008 and 2009. That said, the French team wasn’t the championship contender from 2005-06. Unfortunately, not only did Alonso not win another title with the squad but he was also embroiled in one of the darkest days of F1 — the Crashgate.

Alonso quit Renault once again at the end of the 2009 season, this time to join Ferrari. On paper, it was a match made in heaven. However, the Scuderia never really got on top of the regulations during his stint with the team from Maranello.

But, a testament to Alonso’s own skill behind the wheel of an F1 car is the fact that he came the closest to winning with Ferrari in 2010 and 2012. In 2010, being stuck behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault for almost an eternity at the season-finale in Abu Dhabi cost the Spaniard the title against Sebastian Vettel by just four points.

In 2012, Ferrari were still not the most competitive outfit but the front of the field was very closely matched. Alonso extracted the best he could and ended just three points shy of winning his third title.

A career marked by ill-fated decisions

The racing gods don’t seem to favor the two-time world champion. When Alonso decided to leave Renault for McLaren, it was at a time when the intra-team dynamics would define his title loss. His decision to move back to Renault also backfired with the controversies surrounding his second stint and the car’s relative uncompetitiveness.

Even his time with Ferrari was dogged by the internal instability in Maranello and a car concept that just wasn’t good enough. Alonso’s last Ferrari car in 2014 was the epitome of this — understeering and oversteering in the same corners. Yet, Alonso extracted the best he could.

In 2015, Vettel made his way to the Scuderia, and out went Alonso. At the turn of the turbo-hybrid era, the #14 driver expected to right the wrongs of his short McLaren career. Hence, he decided to move back to the Woking-based side, only to never win a Grand Prix again to date.

Honda had misjudged its engine program and McLaren’s own flawed chassis concept meant that Alonso dawdled in the midfield for four years before calling it quits on his time in the sport. He retired at the end of the 2018 season.

His career has always been looking out for a prospective team and moving there to just find out that they have gotten something terribly, terribly wrong.

What is Fernando Alonso’s F1 legacy?

Alonso returned to the sport in 2021 with the rebranded Renault/Alpine team. However, the internal team politics and instability within the Enstone-based team made the Spaniard reconsider his decision to re-join the team.

Last year, he decided to join Aston Martin and for once it felt as if he had made the right decision. The AMR23 — at least at the beginning of the season — was a top-three car. Alonso fought for race wins and stood on the podium eight times.

However, this year, the Silverstone-based team has dropped the ball in terms of performance, with the #14 driver slipping back into his slump.

That said, the fact that Alonso is on the verge of completing his 400th Grand Prix and is still considered a driver who can win his third title at the age of 43, just shows that statistics and missed opportunities do not define the legacy of a driver.