"Prime Seb was a different beast"- Fans look at the epic wheel-to-wheel battle between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel at the 2011 F1 Italian GP

Fernando Alonso is one of the most iconic drivers to step into Formula 1. He has also been on the grid for a long time. making his debut back in 2001 and has been here ever since (though he retired for three years, he made his way back in 2021).

In this long time, he won two world championships in 2005 and 2006 and has been chasing a third one.

He came close to winning it in 2011 when he was in the Ferrari, challenging Red Bull's Youngblood, Sebastian Vettel. The two shared an iconic rivalry that season, which was ultimately won by the latter.

As F1 in 2023 heads to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, a clip of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel battling out on the track in 2011 was shared. The clip featured an amazing overtake that the German made in turns 8 and 9. The race was ultimately won by him and Alonso followed up on P3.

Newer fans were amazed at seeing this clip while old fans felt nostalgic about the raw and competitive racing action back in the day . Here are some of the best reactions from X (formerly called Twitter).

"Prime Seb was a different beast."

"When racing was even better!"

"2 legends fighting wheel to wheel but with respect and fair play. No left front tire hitting the other car. Seb & Fernando"

Sebastian Vettel retired from racing at the end of the 2022 season and Fernando Alonso replaced him at Aston Martin this season, making a surprising comeback to the podium after multiple competitive drives with the top teams.

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Fernando Alonso could set another milestone in F1 at Monza this weekend

As mentioned, the Spaniard has been a part of the sport for more than two decades now. Even though he has not won as many world championships (he lost out by a couple of points in multiple seasons), he still has some of the highest number of races completed.

The Dutch GP last weekend marked Fernando Alonso's 368th GP start in Formula 1, and the 72 laps were enough to bring his total number of laps to 19,949.

This number is immense in terms of all the laps that he has completed as a Formula 1 driver, and what is more interesting is the fact that the Italian GP this week will feature 53 laps.

So if he manages to pull his Aston Martin till the end of the race, he will easily cross the mark of 20,000 laps, which is a huge achievement for a driver.