Alonso Wins World Drivers Championship 2012

Fernando Alonso can celebrate winning the the F1 2012 Blog WDC this year
Copyright Lorenzo Bellanca-LAT Photography
Courtesy Pirelli F1

Back in May I decided to set up my own, alternative WD and WC championships

Given my opposition to Bahrain I decided to treat it as a non-championship event like the F2 days of old.  As such I've decided to do my own championship points tally without taking account of Bahrain. 

Regardless of the fact that keeping it became a bit of a chore as the season went on I did keep it up and, while it may be no more than cold comfort for Fernando Alonso, He is the "F1 2012 BLOG" World Drivers' Championship winner. 

Alonso showed his maturity in trying circumstances
Andrew FerraroLAT Photography
Courtesy Pirelli F1

I have to admit that his attitude this year, his ability to drive the car beyond its abilities, his maturity, and his ability to keep a sense of perspective and humour in the face of being outgunned by the Red Bull and the McLaren teams has converted me from interested spectator to avid fan.

Back when he was in the Minardi Team it was clear from his very first qualifying session that he had stupendous ability behind the wheel.  He outqualified his more experienced team-mate by over 2 seconds on that occasion. At the end of his single season at Minardi he announced his status in Japan by beating both Arrows, a Prost, his team-mate and a BAR to the finish line.

You might say that none of the aforementioned teams were particularly great, and you would be right, but the drivers who were in those cars included HHF in the Prost, Panis in the BAR, and Verstappen in the Arrows.  All of those four drivers had recognised experience and ability in F1 and each of them had experience of scoring points with two of them being winning drivers.

There was a general concession by all the F1 Journalists that he would be moving to greener pastures in 2002, but he ended up as Test Driver with Renault.  Being managed by Flav, who was also managing Renault, there was no question but that he would be in a race seat there come 2003.

In 2003 having replaced Jenson Button, Fernando won his first Grand Prix from pole position in Hungary.  He also scored his first pole position in Malaysia alongside Jarno Trulli in second.

In that season he pushed Jarno Trulli, a recognised master over one lap, and finished up outqualifying his more illustrious team-mate seven times over 15 races.  He lost out to Jarno during qualifying but comprehensively outscored him in races, finishing the season 22 points ahead, this when points were scored for top 8 finishes (10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1).

He finished 6th in the WDC in 2003 and improved that to 4th in 2004, despite not scoring a single win. Then in 2005 he won his first WDC, Renault winning the WCC, when partnered by Giancarlo Fisichella. 7 wins, 5 seconds, 3 thirds, and one did not start (US GP Indianapolis 2005), sealed a dominant season which he then repeated in 2006 with 7 wins and 7 second place finishes.

We all know what happened with McLaren in 2007 and I'll gloss over the sensational stuff to remind you that he still scored 4 wins, 4 second places and 4 thirds, even though the team were not giving him the No.1 status he expected when he joined them.

It was a glitch, and what great driver hasn't had them by times? He forgot that, of all of the teams in the pitlane, McLaren is one you can generally guarantee will give their drivers equal status (I say generally because I remember Coulthard being asked to give Mika his first win in Jerez in 1997 and then handing over the first race of the following season after Mika decided to take a long-cut through the pitlane for no reason).

In 2008 he went back to Renault for two years with wins but no continual success and then joined Ferrari in 2010, just as Red Bull became a force to be reckoned with.  He lost the title to Sebastian Vettel that year by 4 points in a season where any of four drivers could have won the title going to the last race in Abu Dhabi.

In 2011 the Ferrari just wasn't at the front at all and Fernando fought the car all season to finish in 4th in the WCC behind a totally dominant Vettel in 1st, Jenson Button, and Mark Webber.

This is where I began to see his maturity.  He pushed and praised the team in equal measure, publicly saying he expected better from them and from himself but praising the collective team ethos pervasive in the garage and in Maranello.

Alonso Monaco 2012
Copyright Lorenzo Bellanca-LAT Photography
Courtesy Pirelli F1

This continued into 2012 when the Prancing Horse was never really in contention during qualifying, when the Ferrari's were struggling to make the tyres work and find raw speed around the track.  Alonso reckons the title was lost in Canada but I disagree.  The first corner in Japan was where this title was lost.  Alonso qualified ahead of Felipe Massa but was taken out by a first corner puncture after Kimi Raikkonen clipped his rear tyre.  Massa showed what the Ferrari was capable of that day by finishing 2nd.  Alonso went into the race leading the WCC by 29 points and came out leading Vettel by only 4.

In the wet at Hockenheim
Courtesy Pirelli F1

He fought a long campaign over the course of the season, in a car that was not the best of any of the fields, and, when it came down to the wire in Austin and Brazil he made fantastic starts and drove great races to give himself the best possible chance of capturing the WDC title.

Alonso leading the Sauber of Kobayashi in Brazil
Courtesy Sauber Motorsport AG

While you may not have won the official WDC, Here's to you Fernando for officially winning the F1 2012 Season WDC, while there's no cash prize and little kudos associated with this title it is yours on merit.

Congratulations

Barry Lucy

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Fernando Alonso (Spain)	Ferrari	272
2	Sebastian Vettel (Germany)	Red Bull Racing	256
3	Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)	Lotus	189
4	Jenson Button (Great Britain)	McLaren	188
5	Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain)	McLaren	186
6	Mark Webber (Australia)	Red Bull Racing	167
7	Felipe Massa (Brazil)	Ferrari	120
8	Nico Rosberg (Germany)	Mercedes	93
9	Romain Grosjean (France)	Lotus	81
10	Sergio Perez (Mexico)	Sauber	66
11	Nico Hulkenberg (Germany)	Sauber	63
12	Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)	Force India	60
13	Michael Schumacher (Germany)	Williams	48
14	Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela)	Mercedes	45
15	Paul di Resta (Great Britain)	Force India	37
16	Bruno Senna (Brazil)	Williams	31
17	Jean-Eric Vergne (France)	Toro Rosso	16
18	Daniel Ricciardo (Australia)	Toro Rosso	10
19	Vitaly Petrov (Russia)	Caterham	0
20	Heikki Kovalainen (Finland)	Caterham	0
21	Timo Glock (Germany)	Marussia	0
22	Charles Pic (France)	Marussia	0
23	Pedro de la Rosa (Spain)	HRT	0
24	Narain Karthikeyan (India)	HRT	0