Top 5 Races of Fernando Alonso

Alonso, double world champion in 2005-06, has had since then several near misses in his quest towards adding a third championship title to his tally. But still, he has established himself as the greatest driver of his generation, who is capable of not only performing well, but in that process also motivating the team with him to achieve success. No matter if the car isnt competitive enough Alonso still manages to produce such strong results which others would find impossible while driving such machinery. Thus, it is no doubt that his career in F1 is studded with numerous great drives which have made him one of the greatest ever in F1. Here is an attempt to select five best races from his more than a decade long career. But before that below are those races which just missed the list, but are great races.Honorable MentionsFernando Alonso celebrates after winning the 2012 European Grand Prix (Valencia)1)2012 European Grand Prix (Valencia)2)2001 Japanese Grand Prix3)2013 Spanish Grand Prix

#5 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix

In only his second season in F1, Alonso completely outclassed his rivals to claim a dominant win.

Starting form pole in the race, Alonso steadily increased the gap, which by lap 13 was over 21 seconds. Then he drove a trouble free race and completely outmatched his rivals to claim his first victory, 17 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

#4 2005 San Marino Grand Prix

It was in 2005 that Alonso finally got all things going right to claim his first world title and one of his best races this season was at San Marino, Italy.

Alonso had started second on the grid, but was promoted into the lead when pole sitter Raikkonen retired from the race. But it was Schumacher who, after staging a great recovery drive from 13th to 2nd had finally caught up with Alonso. For the last 13 laps of the race, Alonso displayed very impressive defensive skills in not letting Schumacher get past to clinch one of his greatest victories.

#3 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

In 2012, Ferrari had produced an uncompetitive car, due to which it had endured one of its worst starts to a season, but in Malaysia Alonso gave Ferrari something to cheer for as he took victory under mixed conditions.

In qualifying, Alonso could only salvage ninth on the grid for the race. The race day was greeted with wet conditions; such was the downpour that the race had to be stopped just after nine laps. It was only after around fifty minutes that the race could again get underway. On a wet track, Alonso took full advantage of his skill and took the lead and slowly increased the lead further. But as the track dried, it was Sergio Perez who closed in on him. Then on lap 50 as Perez made a mistake, Alonso got enough opportunity to hold on to his lead and win one of his most memorable races.

#2 2010 Singapore Grand Prix

In 2010, Red Bull proved to be the fastest car on the grid, but at Singapore it was Alonso who kept both the Red Bull’s at bay to claim a thrilling victory.

Alonso got pole from Vettel by just 0.067 of a second. In the race he applied all his skills to endure an eventful race with Vettel right behind him all the time to claim his first ever Grand Chelem (pole position, fastest lap and race win) in F1.

#1 2007 European Grand Prix

Alonso with McLaren was the defending champion this year, but his teammate Lewis Hamilton had emerged as a real threat to his third title ambitions. Alonso arrived at this race, twelve points behind Hamilton and desperately needed a good result to close the gap to him.

In qualifying, Alonso managed 2nd place on the grid while Hamilotn could only get 10th place due to his crash during the session. The race started under mixed conditions and as heavy rain started, many drivers went off at Turn 1, which prompted a safety car. All this while, Alonso kept himself steady in third place behind Winklehock and Massa. After the safety car as the track dried Alonso was behind Massa who was in the lead. But as it rained again with just 10 laps to go, Alonso closed the gap to Massa on intermediate tyres. Then in a brave maneuver on the outside of Massa, Alonso finally got ahead of him to take the lead and then went on win his first race in wet conditions.