GP Bahrain 2010: Alonso's first victory in Ferrari

(More photos of that day, at the end of the article)

About to start the exciting 2022 Formula 1 season, with the premiere of the new rules in which Alpine , the driver and his fans trusted to be able to shape ‘The Plan’, Alonso faces the new course with the same enthusiasm and enthusiasm with which he debuted, twelve years ago, with Ferrari.

After a strange 2009 season, when a team that only participated that year under the name Brawn GP was champion, the exciting 2010 season arrived. Fernando Alonso, after two years back at Renault without the possibility of fighting for big goals, joined Ferrari, the historic team that had only been two years without taking the drivers’ title and one for the constructors.

There were all the ingredients to imagine, why not, a happy marriage, with a Ferrari that would shine again and an Alonso that would recover the throne that he had not reached since 2006. There is a curiosity that when he won that second world championship, the most representative driver of those of the Cavallino, Michael Schumacher , said goodbye to Formula 1. And, four years later, while Alonso arrived at Ferrari, Schumacher, the eternal idol, returned to competition.

The first Grand Prix of the year also meant nothing less than race number 250 for the seven-time champion.

Already without Brawn GP on the grid (converted into the team that Schumacher was going to, Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel achieved the first pole of the year. The German, who the previous year had been runner-up in the world (sneaking in between the Brawns), snatched the first position by just over a tenth from Felipe Massa , who also returned to activity that weekend in March 2010 after his terrible accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso started third, who at the start passed his teammate Massa to place second. Vettel held the lead for the first 30 laps as, despite the pitstops, nothing changed. However, from that moment the German’s Red Bull began to fail, and his lap pace fell three and four seconds compared to his rivals, who took advantage of that reliability problem to overtake him.

Alonso did it, and so did Massa and Hamilton, who finished on the podium. Vettel could only be fourth, although he resisted the attack of Rosberg , who was fifth in the first Mercedes. The Asturian took the first 25 points for victory in history (that year Formula 1 debuted a scoring system) and victory in his first race at Ferrari, completing a debut with a license to dream of.

The dream was close to being fulfilled on two occasions, that same 2010 and in 2012. The rest of the story, which did not have a happy ending, they know. The long-awaited title did not come and Ferrari has now gone fourteen years without winning the drivers’ title. Sixteen leads Alonso. But that day an illusion began. That day they were happy.

Formula 1 Bahrain GP 2010 results, positions and times

Remember more images of the 2010 Bahrain GP

Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari with Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP and Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Merc

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Photo by: XPB Images

Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari con Jenson Button, McLaren Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Merce

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Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari, Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari and Juan Carlos I, King of Spain

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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Start of the race, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari, Scuderia Ferrari

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari and Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing and Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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Winner of the race Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari celebrates

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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Winner of the race Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari celebrates

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Winner of the race Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari celebrates

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari leading Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari

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Podium: race winner Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari, second place Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari

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Race winner Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari celebrates with second place Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari

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Podium: Fernando Alonso race winner, Scuderia Ferrari celebrates

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Podium: Fernando Alonso of the race, Scuderia Ferrari

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Podium: Fernando Alonso of the race, Scuderia Ferrari

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Race winner Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari celebrates with third place Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes

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Race winner Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari celebrates with third place Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes

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Podium: Race winner Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari, with second place Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari, third place Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes and Stefano Domenicali, Scuderia Ferrari Sports Director

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Podium: race winner Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari, second place Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari

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Podium: Fernando Alonso of the race, Scuderia Ferrari

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari, celebrates his victory

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari, Bernie Ecclestone, Jenson Button, McLaren Mercedes

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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Fernando Alonso, Scuderia Ferrari

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