F1 1000th GP: 5 Greatest F1 Drivers (1999-2019)

Fernando Alonso: 2001 to 2018

F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi

Some call him 'El Nino', others call him the 'Spanish Samurai.' But regardless of who you are, whether a purist or a ranter in an age of social-media verdicts and shenanigans, Fernando Alonso happens to be a pure racer; in fact, among the greatest of all time.

Quite frankly, there's no other way of describing the man from Asturias, Northern Spain, someone responsible for collecting 32 race wins, 97 podiums and not one but two World Titles.

Interestingly, both of Alonso's crowns would come at a time where the likes of Schumacher were still going strong.

If that's not enough to prove Alonso's standing as a modern great- for beating Schumi in two back to back seasons is no easy feat anyways- then perhaps that he turned out to be the only guy who challenged Vettel's supremacy in those 2010-13 seasons might offer some substance.

Right?

On a completely different tangent, when Alonso was paired with Raikkonen, in 2014 (at Ferrari), that he scored 161 points to Kimi's 55, albeit the duo functioning on a weak front end personified the man that Alonso is and shall always be: someone who pushed boundaries and exerted might when it all seemed lost.

Of course, it's quite another thing that despite driving a car as utterly unreliable as that McLaren-Honda of his, it was Alonso who found a way to gather milestones, such as the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix's fastest lap.

Fair to call the bearded lion of Formula 1 as a legend, right?