Why Alonso is better than Vettel, Button and Hamilton

Finally, we have a repeat winner in 2012. The win at the European Grand Prix has not only helped Fernando Alonso take lead in the drivers standings but also established the fact that he is the best driver among the current lot (which includes five champions) and one of the greatest in the history of the sport. His drive on the street circuit of Valencia was truly remarkable. Agreed, he was fortunate to have a safety car incident that helped him close the gap with runaway leaders Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean. luck smiled on him even more when Vettel retired. However, even then, Alonso’s performance was stellar to say the least. Ferrari’s Saturday form indicated that the team would have been quite content with just points finishes for any of its drivers who had qualified 11th (Alonso) and 13th (Massa) respectively. Alonso though had other ideas as he muscled his way past leading cars and catapulted himself to 3rd place before the safety car incident. [caption id=“attachment_362706” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Fernando Alonso drove brilliantly in Valencia. AP”] [/caption] The deployment of safety car meant all cars had bunched together. The Spaniard once again showed why he is so highly rated. At the restart, he was breathing down the neck of second placed Grosjean, who was duly overtaken after couple of corners. It was astonishing to see Alonso fight for the lead while his Ferrari teammate was languishing in the no points zone. Vettel’s and Grosjean’s retirement from the race meant there was no real challenge for Alonso. Of course this isn’t the first time that the 2005 & 2006 world champion has produced such a drive. Ferrari hasn’t been the quickest car on the grid. and this has been the case right from 2010, Alonso’s first year at the Italian team. Yet, he has pulled off shocking victories every now and then during the past two and half years. Not only that, his remarkable consistency had put him in title contention (as he is now) in 2010. He could have even won the title that year had out not been for a strategy blunder in the final race of the season. Prior to joining Ferrari his two years at Renault too were marked with consistent performances sprinkled with couple of victories. The Renault of 2008 and 2009 was again not the quickest on the grid. The best way to look at Alonso’s performances is to compare them with those of his teammates. In 2008 & 2009, Alonso’s teammates finished 12th & 21st/23rd respectively (compared to Alonso’s 5th & 9th) in drivers standings. At Ferrari, Alonso has completely overshadowed Massa who hasn’t scored a win since the 2008 Brazilian grand prix and hasn’t been on podium for close to two years. The other interesting thing at Valencia was the other two podium finishers. Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher completed the champagne spraying troika at the end of the race. It has been a while since the old guard stood on a podium. It was also symbolic of the succession order in Formula One. Interestingly, the succession order is relevant to the number 1 driver status at Ferrari too. (Alonso had replaced Raikkonen who in turn had replaced Schumacher) For the record, Massa finished 16th at Valencia and is languishing in 16th place in the championship a well.