Watch: Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen's stunning qualifying laps around the streets of Monaco

There was a time when Fernando Alonso was the reigning world champion and Kimi Raikkonen was one of the best drivers on the grid, wanting to bag his maiden world championship. Although both drivers were quick on most circuits, they were incredibly fast in the 2005 F1 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session. During Q1 of the qualifying session, both Alonso and Raikkonen showcased tremendous skill by zooming through the tight street circuit, beating every other driver by several tenths of a second.

Initially, Mark Webber topped the timing sheets with a 1:14.584. Following that, Fernando Alonso began his flying lap and was already a tenth of a second faster than Webber's lap time by the end of the first sector. He zoomed past the circuit in his Renault R25 and beat Webber's time by 0.459 seconds, clocking in at 1.14.125.

Although Fernando Alonso's lap looked like the fastest of the qualifying session, Kimi Raikkonen had other plans. The Finn started his flying lap and swiftly beat the Spaniard's first sector time by 0.226 seconds. Raikkonen managed to top the timing sheets in Q1 with 1.13.664, which was 0.481 seconds higher than the reigning world champion's time.

Back in 2005, the Q1 part of a qualifying session was the fastest since teams used the lowest fuel possible in their cars, making them light and nimble. In terms of the raw speed of the car and driver, Raikkonen and McLaren were better than Alonso and Renault.

The McLaren driver went on to take the pole position after Q2 and later won the 2005 F1 Monaco GP, whereas Alonso came in second in the qualifying session and finished the race in fourth.

As such, it's hard to believe that Fernando Alonso is still an F1 driver and has already finished on two podiums in the 2023 F1 season, which shows just how dedicated the Spaniard is to this day.

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Fernando Alonso shares his feelings after finishing on the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP podium

Fernando Alonso had a brilliant start to the 2023 F1 season with Aston Martin. In the first two races of the season, the Spaniard managed to finish third, right behind the reigning world champions, Red Bull. After the Saudi Arabian GP, the 41-year-old shared his initial thoughts on how the season and the race panned out for him:

"What a start to the season! Probably unthinkable from one month ago when we launched the car. They have made a fantastic car and a fantastic execution in strategy. The Red Bulls may be a bit out of reach but the rest are behind."

Apart from Red Bull, Aston Martin is the only team that has taken a massive step forward in terms of development. Compared to the 2022 F1 season, where they finished seventh in the constructors' table, the green British team has drastically improved.