Why Fernando Alonso is Still the Best Driver on the F1 Grid

It is fair to say that Fernando Alonso is currently experiencing his worst run in Formula 1 since re-joining McLaren in 2015. When I say worst run, I am talking purely in results form not his own personal performance. At the Spanish GP, Alonso pulled out the best qualifying performance seen by anybody in a long time, getting his McLaren-Honda into Q3. Even more amazingly, he ended up starting in 7^th. Although the race pace was still not there for Alonso, his performance in qualifying showed just how good the double World Champion still is.

It has not just been this race weekend that has showed his unquestioned talent, he has shown this dating back to the end of his Ferrari career, when that car was not as good as it should have been. Even during his second stint at Renault between 2008 and 2009, where the car was not on the same level as McLaren and Ferrari, he still managed to score two victories. 

When Alonso debuted with Minardi in 2001, everyone could see how special a driver he was. Though not scoring any points that year, he was constantly quicker than team mates Tarso Marques, and then Alex Yoong, recording a best finish of 10^th at the German GP. Getting more out of his car than people would have expected saw the Renault team sign him up for 2002 as a test driver, before promoting him to a race seat for 2003. Though the team were on the up, they were no match for the power of McLaren, Ferrari and Williams. This did not stop Alonso becoming the youngest driver to score a pole position at the Malaysian GP. He then became the youngest driver to win a race the following year at the Hungarian GP, again in a car that was improving along with its star driver. This progression was complete with his two World Championships in 2005 and 2006. A third title should have followed at McLaren, unfortunately, inter-team politics and a bad attitude cost Alonso and the team that year.

That was the last year that Alonso had a genuine front running car. Two backwards years at Renault saw him more to Ferrari in 2010, which should have been a match made in heaven, with multiple titles for the Spaniard. 2010 should have been the first had it not been for Red Bull’s Vettel storming through at the end of the season. After that, the Alonso that we see now was born, the man that could get more out of a car than anybody else. The 2012 Ferrari was not a title fighter by any stretch of the imagination, yet Alonso not only won races in that car, but kept the title fight going to the final race of the year. As at McLaren previously, the relationship between team and driver went sour, and Alonso re-joined McLaren, who had teamed up with once again with Honda.

This current spell that Alonso is going through with McLaren-Honda however, is the one that is showing that he is the best on the current grid. Yes, you have Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel who are battling at the front and providing some fantastic racing for the fans. Their talent is undeniable, but neither driver has performed in Formula 1 quite like Alonso. In a poor car, he still manages to score points and put himself in positions that other drivers would not be able too. What proves he is the best however is that, this season, despite having the second slowest car, he is still averaging 12^th on the grid, an achievement that nobody else on that grid would be able to achieve in that car. The upcoming Indy 500 race that he will contest, will provide further proof if needed that Fernando Alonso is not only the best in F1, but one of the best in the world right now.    

Could Sauber Become the New Honda Works Team?

During the Russian GP weekend, it was announced that Sauber will be using Honda power units for the 2018 season, meaning their 8-season association with Ferrari will come to an end. It was also heavily speculated that the team would be using McLaren gearboxes from the 2018 season, though team principle Monisha Kaltenborn said the team was not ready to make any announcement. This new partnership is a good deal for both the Sauber team and Honda itself, leading some people to speculate whether Honda could take a controlling stake in the Swiss team, and make it the works Honda team, something which has not been seen since the 2008 season. 

This speculation has solid ground when looking the recent history of the Sauber team, especially in the last ten years. In the early 2000’s, Sauber were consistently “best of the rest” behind Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, securing 4^th in the constructors’ championship in 2001. This achievement would not be seen again for the team due to the heavy investment that other teams were putting into their cars, which Sauber could not match. However, their heavy investment into their wind tunnel technology made BMW take notice and buy a controlling stake in the team, re-branding it BMW Sauber. Under this guise, the team enjoyed a lot of success even a sole victory at the 2008 Canadian GP thanks to Robert Kubica. Peter Sauber then bought the team back from BMW in late 2009 after the German car manufacturer decided to pull out of the sport.

Since 2010, the team has struggled financially and made no secret of this. There have been many times since the team’s reincarnation where they were on the brink of folding and disappearing from the sport. Investment from Longbow Finance S.A in 2016 has secured the teams future. On the track this season though, fortunes have not changed with the team being the slowest of the 10 on the grid, using old Ferrari engines. This new deal will see the team use the latest Honda engine, not a year old one and have a brand new gearbox supplied by McLaren. This deal can only help the small Swiss team but also help Honda and McLaren.   

Personally, I believe it will take some pressure off Honda, who have simply let McLaren down since their partnership renewed in 2015. Progress has been slow and many are running out of patience, none more so than Fernando Alonso. With an extra team to supply, it will give Honda the opportunity to test more new parts and upgrades to make itself a force in Formula 1 again and at the same time, help put McLaren back at the sharp end of the grid. In making itself a force again, the Sauber would be the perfect team for Honda to buy out and make itself a fully operational Formula 1 team again. This would all boil down to Honda turning around its engine performance though. The new involvement of Honda in Sauber shares similarities with BMW’s involvement which could point to a similar scenario of Honda becoming a works F1 team again.  

Abu Dhabi GP 2015

Rosberg Spring Stepping into 2016

Nico Rosberg's stunning end to 2015 was capped off with the first victory hat-trick of his career as he won the Abu Dhabi GP. A habit since winning his third World Championship, Lewis Hamilton came home second behind his team mate. It was another comfortable victory for Rosberg, who has won every race since Hamilton took the title in October. This brilliant run of form at the end of the season has seen Rosberg not only win races, but record six successive pole positions and see his total career wins move onto 14. Most importantly though, his confidence going into 2016 will be high.

Rosberg finished 8.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who once again opted for a different strategy to try and find a way past Rosberg, only to fall short again. Rosberg made his second stop on lap 31, which saw Hamilton stay rather than pit a lap later. Hamilton's aim was to try and extend the life of his soft Pirelli tyres, which resulted in an exchange of words between Hamilton and the pitwall over whether or not he could go to the end, not for the first time this season. The resulting decision saw Rosberg close in rapidly, forcing Hamilton to pit for the second time on lap 41. Oddly, Hamilton took on used soft tyres rather than the super-softs, seeing him fall back 12.5 seconds on Rosberg. Hamilton did produce another brief attack on his team mate, but in the end it was for nothing as he finished behind Rosberg again.

Behind the ever dominating Mercedes pair, (scoring a record 12th one-two of the season) Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished on the podium for only the third time this season. Brilliantly for Raikkonen, he finished ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel, who came from 15th on the grid to finish 4th. The Force India pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finished 5th and 7th, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo between them in 6th. Felipe Massa came home in 8th, after another average race for the Williams team. In his final race for Lotus before a switch to Hass in 2016, Romain Grosjean came from 19th on the grid to score a 9th place finish. Rounding off the top 10 was Daniil Kvyat for Red Bull.

Impressive Race ends Impressive Season for Many

This season, there have been many impressive performances by so many drivers. This trend continued at the final race in Abu Dhabi. Sebastian Vettel's problems in qualifying saw him start down in 15th. He opted for a different strategy of soft-soft-super-soft which saw him tear his way through the field on his way to fourth. This strategy saw him out of sync with his main rivals, but it still got him into fifth place after his second stop before catching Perez's Force India for fourth with ten laps remaining. Vettel's first season with Ferrari has been brilliant, and he will be hoping for more success in 2016.

Sergio Perez is another who ended an impressive season on a high. Starting on the second row, he couldn't quite match the pace of the Ferrari's over a long distance, but he did manage an impressive fifth place to consolidate a best ever ninth position in the Drivers Championship.

Although nothing compared to 2014, Daniel Ricciardo's run to 6th place capped off a solid campaign. Had the engine in his Red Bull been up to scratch over the season, he would have made a big impact in the championship picture.

He was involved in a frantic opening lap in the midfield pack, but couldn't quite get ahead of team mate Kvyat. Ricciardo drove a solid race whereas Kvyat faded out during the course of the race and faded into 10th place.

Starting his final race for Lotus at the back of the grid, Romain Grosjean opted for a similar tyre strategy to Vettel, which managed to get him into contention for points. He made the most of super-softs in the closing stages and passed both Max Verstappen and Kvyat to finish a superb 9th. After all the problems that Lotus have encountered this season, Romain Grosjean's performances are something that have caught the eye. Hass have a very talented driver coming on board for their 2016 debut.

Stars and Flops of 2015

Every year in Formula 1 there are teams, and drivers, who stand head and shoulders above the rest. This year, without a doubt it has to be the Mercedes team and Lewis Hamilton. The team has went from strength to strength following their dominance in 2014, notching up a record 12 one-two finishes and having an almost bullet proof car. The car they produced helped Lewis Hamilton equal Sir Jackie Stewart's three World Championships and produce some outstanding drives. Most notably his drive in Silverstone, where he overcame the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas and the great British weather to record a famous win.

I could easily pick Sergio Perez and Force India for their fantastic efforts over the season, but Max Verstappen needs a serious mention simply because, at 17 years of age, what he has done this season is nothing short of tremendous. He has driven with the confidence of a multi World Champion and some of the over takes he has performed over the year have been jaw dropping. What sticks out for me is his overtake at Spa at nearly 200mph around the outside of Felipe Massa. A minor blip came at Monaco where he caused an accident on lap 64 with Romain Grosjean at turn 1. Other than that it was a fantastic rookie year. This man will be a World Champion before he is 21, if he is given the proper equipment, whether it is at Red Bull or Ferrari in the years to come.

While there were plenty stars of 2015, there were also flops. None more so than McLaren. I have written so much over this season about how bad that car has been. Tragic would not be an over exaggeration. It has seen Fernando Alonso finish with his lowest ever points tally, and pushed Jenson Button into thinking of retiring. The outrageous notion that the team improved over the season, I think, is ridiculous. At the tracks where engine power was not the defining factor, they faired reasonably well. However too many tracks were engine power focused. This led to many outbursts from Fernando Alonso about the quality of the car even referring to the engine as a "GP2 engine". 2016 surely cannot be any worse? Something has to be done engine wise, or else the team will be further behind. I do not think that Alonso would want to hang around to endure another season like 2015.

Italian GP 2015

Italian GP 2015

Hamilton's Title to Loose

Lewis Hamilton took another step towards his third World Championship this weekend with an utterly dominant victory in the Italian GP. His steps towards the title were helped massively when his closest challenger, and team mate, Nico Rosberg's engine blew up with just two laps remaining. Sebastian Vettel took second place in his first race in Italy for Ferrari, with Felipe Massa rounding off the top 3. Despite winning by a huge 24 seconds and extending his championship lead by 53 points, Hamilton was made to wait 3 hours for the victory to be confirmed as a debate over the legality of his tyre pressures was raised. 

In response to the tyre failures in Belgium two weeks prior, Pirelli had raised the minimum recommended tyre pressures, with the rears needing to be at 19.5psi. However, immediately after the chequered flag fell, it was announced that before the race Hamilton's left rear pressure was .3psi below and that Rosberg's was 1.1psi below the recommended limit. Thankfully for Hamilton however, the FIA concluded that both tyres in question were at the correct limits when they were fitted to the car.

Behind Hamilton, the massive following of Ferrari fans were hoping race day would continue their strong weekend, with Kimi Raikkonen lining up behind Hamilton in 2nd place. Sadly for the fans and team, they couldn't turn Saturday’s qualifying pace into race pace, and couldn't get near the Mercedes of Hamilton. Raikkonen, almost stalling and being last to the first corner, certainly didn't help the cause either. He did however manage to battle back through the field, and finished in 5th behind fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas.

Raikkonen's battle through the field was possibley the only in-race action that would have kept viewers interested. Once again, the excitement, action and turning points that fans want to see on track has come off the track. If it isn't the bitter divorce spat between Red Bull and Renault, or Honda claims of progress, it's something else. This weekend's theme: tyre pressures. This season has produced some, quite frankly, rubbish grand prix's, with actions and spats overshadowing the spectacle that is the race.  

McLaren and Honda at Breaking Point

When McLaren announced that they were to be teaming up with Honda once again, I remember how much excitement went through my system in anticipation to see the great duo reunited. I wasn't alive during the McLaren-Honda dominance of the 1980's, but I have watched so much footage of it that my mouth watered at the prospect of seeing this again. So you can imagine how disappointed I am, and I'm sure McLaren and its fan base are too, at the utter shambles that has been the 2015 season.

At the Italian Grand Prix, the partnership reached breaking point, as rumours circulated that McLaren have asked Honda to remove Yasuhisa Arai from his position of chief motorsport officer at Honda. Arai is under huge pressure after a series of promises have went undelivered, and the team have shown very little sign of progress since the beginning of the season. Arai was present at a press conference at Monza and was given what was described as a brutal interrogation. He rejected suggestions that he should resign, and unbelievably reiterated his belief that Honda have a better engine than Renault.

It is claimed that McLaren are so disillusioned by Honda's lack of progress over the season that they wrote to the company's president asking for Arai to be removed. The whole situation has now became such a farce, that it is now getting embarrassing for both McLaren and Honda. The claim from Arai that the Honda engine has more horsepower than the Renault was the final straw for me. Arai said that for the Italian Grand Prix, the Honda engine would have more horsepower than the Renault, and be quicker in a straight line. How wrong can one man be? The Honda power unit is poor. There is no other way of putting it. Fernando Alonso has come out and said that they are losing 3 seconds a lap to the Mercedes due to the lack of power on the straights. If there were signs of progress in the races, there is a good chance that nobody would be talking about this issue. If you could see McLaren blistering down the start/finish straight challenging the likes of Red Bull and Williams, then it would ease the pain for the team. Even if they were doing this and the engine went up in smoke, at least its progress. Something has to be done and done quickly.

Monza Must Stay

Bernie Ecclestone has been very pessimistic about the future of the Italian GP continuing at Monza beyond its contract which runs out next year. The thought of not seeing Monza on the F1 calendar is a tragic one. Even the thought of Imola replacing Monza is still not an option as far as fans and drivers alike are concerned. Sebastian Vettel said to lose the Italian GP for money issues would be like ripping out our hearts. Monza has staged grand prix racing since 1922. It is up there with the likes of Monaco Spa and Silverstone for its rich history, and to lose it from the calendar would be a kick in the teeth for the sport’s history and heritage. It's combination of fast straights and chicanes means it presents a different challenge to more modern circuits such as Russia and Abu Dhabi. With these characteristics, it means drivers are massively in favour of keeping it on the calendar. Because of races such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi bringing lots of money to the table, it puts races such as Italy under threat. In the end, it all comes down to money - the only thing Bernie Ecclestone seems to have an interest in. Teams such as Ferrari and McLaren get extra prize money given to them because of their history in the sport; so to protect circuits such as Monza, why doesn't Bernie give them a discount of sorts for holding the race because of their history? Just an idea. 

Canadian GP 2015

Mercedes Power a Different Class

The Canadian GP is a race that usually produces action and excitement from lights out to chequered flag. This was extinguished at this year's event thanks to the dominance of Mercedes’ power. Lewis Hamilton claimed his 4th victory of the season and with it, put the disappointment of Monaco behind him to pull out a 17 point lead over team mate Nico Rosberg in the championship. Rosberg finished second with Valtteri Bottas coming home 3rd. The race was a dull affair with the only notable incidents being Sebastian Vettel charging through the field along with Felipe Massa, both of whom were out of position thanks to technical problems in qualifying. Both drivers put in some brilliant overtakes to battle through the field and came home 5th (Vettel) and 6th (Massa). Had both of them started in positions that reflected the machinery they were in, it could have made better viewing for the fans.

What the race did was highlight what is wrong with the current state of F1. When 9 of the 10 points places are filled with Mercedes powered cars, it is clear that something needs to change and quickly. On the one hand, you cannot help but admire the work that Mercedes have put into the V6 turbo engine to make it the dominant force that is. People can argue that the characteristics of the Montréal played into Mercedes hands with the longer straights that put an emphasis on the power unit. Renault, Ferrari and Honda were never going to get near any Mercedes power during the whole weekend, no matter what they did. This is the problem though; there isn't really anything that they can do with the restrictions on engine development. Mercedes’ advantage is so vast, the current token system that is in place doesn't help anyone. To try and level the playing field somewhat, teams should be able to develop their power units without restriction. This could in turn bring the pack a bit closer and give us some more exciting and closer racing. In Monaco, Red Bull were so much closer to the front, because it was a circuit that focuses more on the chassis, not the power unit. Montréal showed the gap in power between the Mercedes teams and the non-Mercedes teams, and it is worrying. Something has to be done, and done quickly before F1's dwindling audience dwindles even further.

Williams Bounce Back From Poor Monaco Showing

A notable point throughout the race weekend was Williams' return to the head of the grid to challenge Ferrari and put some pressure on Mercedes. In Monaco, the team were absolutely nowhere and didn't score a single point. Fast forward two weeks, and the team are back at the head of the grid. Valtteri Bottas showed what a talent he is and continued his impressive record in Canada with another podium finish - his and the teams first of the season. Felipe Massa showed the cars pace after coming through the field to finish an impressive 6th. The performance in Canada was in stark contrast to that of Monaco two weeks earlier, where the team looked very off colour. There is an argument that Williams’ poor performance in Monaco was down to the nature of the Monaco circuit, and showed the Williams chassis' flaws, something Rob Smedley has denied. The team has been accused of lacking in the development area, and this could have possibly been the reason for the performance issues in Monaco. The Canadian GP played into Williams hands with their Mercedes power, and it will be the same in Austria. Hopefully the team can push on from Canada and develop the car so they don't repeat their Monaco nightmare, and compete at the head of the grid.

McLaren Amateurs

The only thing that was surprising to me about Fernando Alonso's radio message in Canada, branding his team "amateurs", was how long it has taken the fiery Spaniard to vent his frustrations. McLaren have reignited their legendary partnership with Honda for 2015, but it has got off to a very slow start, with Jenson Button picking up the teams only points in Monaco. Canada brought McLaren back down to earth with a harsh bump, as the teams' lack of power was clear for everyone to see. The team were not challenging anybody in the race, and saw cars drive straight past them down the back straight. This has all been taken in Alonso's and Button’s strides, with both drivers constantly saying how happy they are with the progress of the team race by race. This cannot be taken away from the team, who have definitely improved race by race, but Canada really showed how far off they are from the points, let alone a podium challenge. So when Alonso was told to save fuel by his team, this seemed to push him too far. He vented his anger over the radio to the team saying that he just wants to race and wouldn't save fuel. You can see where he is coming from though, he is a natural born racer and not being able to do something that comes naturally to him must be infuriating. To add insult to injury for Alonso, both he and Button retired from the race thanks to reliability issues. Alonso was quick to play down his comments after the race, but it is clear that he is becoming frustrated with the team’s performance. Despite this, he still believes that he is in the right environment to deliver his illusive 3rd World Championship.