This was Alonso's 2021 in F1, as if he had never left

Fernando Alonso returned to Formula 1 in 2021 after two years triumphing in other categories and mythical races, and everyone wondered if he would be able to recover the level he had when he left the ‘Great Circus’ in 2018. Although in this article We are going to analyze how his season was going, the answer is clear: he has shown the level that he never lost.

Before starting the course we got a big scare when Alonso had a traffic accident, hitting a car while riding a bike in Switzerland. He had to undergo surgery for a broken jaw and was absent from the presentation of his new car, but he managed to make it to winter testing well.

As a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic and cost savings, Formula 1 reduced the number of pre-season tests for this year, which left only one and a half days on the track for each driver.

Regarding those who changed teams that was more serious, and Alonso was a special case, a mix between “rookie” and pilot with new colors. The two-time champion accused the period out of F1 in the first dates, but always warned that it was a matter of time, and his rapid improvement in performance proved him right.

• Alonso at the 2021 Bahrain GP. The talent was there and already in the first classification, in Bahrain, he managed to sneak in as the only Alpine in Q3. Alonso made his own in the race, gaining positions at the start and fighting in the points zone, but his car prevented him from fighting on long runs and, to add to his disappointment, he suffered a brake problem when a sandwich wrapper snuck into the ducts of his A521 , causing his abandonment after 35 laps.
• Alonso at the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP. The next stop on the calendar was at Imola , a circuit he knows well, but after falling in Q2 in qualifying, the rain on Sunday made the race truly chaotic. There, Alonso would finish 11th, but a penalty with Raikkonen gave him his first points after his return . He was grateful for “a career that was worth two” .
• Alonso at the 2021 Portuguese GP. And if the second was on a well-known track, the third, in Portimao , was the opposite. There he couldn’t get past Q2 either, but on Sunday he had a great time and achieved a good result. With a good pace in clean air and after lengthening his first stint and then completing several overtakes, he finished eighth. His “who’s next?” what he said on the radio after passing a McLaren turned on the fans. There was Alonso.
• Alonso at the 2021 Spanish GP. And Spain arrived. There, Alpine looked in good shape and both drivers made it to Q3. However, the team mistakenly decided to go for a single stop and Alonso, who flirted with 10th place, ended up running out of points, watching helplessly as his rivals passed him by.
• Alonso at the 2021 Monaco GP. It was no better in Monaco, where Alonso fell in Q3 with an A521 that did not suit the streets of Monte Carlo and, despite a risky strategy as he won four places, he never seemed to have a chance of score. He left the Principality with a 0 and with a disappointing pace of the car, hoping that in Baku the waters would return to normal.

Fernando Alonso’s results in the 2021 Formula 1 season

(Points and results per race)

	Points
Fernando Alonso	81	0 /ab	1 /10th	4th / 8th	0/ /17th	0/ /13th	8 /6th	4th / 8th	2 /9th	1 /10th	6th / 7th	12 /4th	0 /11th	8 /6th	4th / 8th	8 /6th	0/ /16th	0 /ab	2 /9th	2 /9th	15 /3rd	0/ /13th	4th / 8th

• Alonso at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP. One of the great moments that Alonso has left in 2021 came in Baku . He went to Q3 for the second time so far this year, with the best starting position, 8th place, despite only one attempt in the final shootout due to a red flag for an accident by Tsunoda. Before the media he declared to have a bittersweet taste that, without a doubt, would be removed on Sunday. Or rather, at the end of Sunday. His car had no rhythm but, avoiding other people’s problems, he arrived 10th at the key moment: a red flag after a blowout by Verstappen left a mini -race of only two laps with a standing start. There, Alonso gave a total exhibition to pass rivals and, despite only two laps, finish sixth.

This cleared up all the criticism he unfairly received and the profiteering suspicions that he was suffering on his return to Formula 1.

• Alonso at the 2021 French GP. Happy to leave urban circuits , the next appointment was at another classic, the Paul Ricard, where Alpine also premiered an important update and where Alonso had put pressure on himself by ensuring that a new championship began there , in a traditional track and increasingly adapted to the car. And it did not disappoint. He was eighth on Saturday, although his car’s race pace hampered him and tire graining prevented him from finishing sixth. He had to settle for eighth, scoring points for the second consecutive race, and left another of his great starts when he passed Norris and Leclerc, of McLaren and Ferrari, respectively.

“He’s back”, celebrated a true Formula 1 legend and an important member of Alpine, none other than Alain Prost .

From the aforementioned Azerbaijan GP , to the last held in the first half of the season (Hungary), Alonso accumulated five Q3s out of a possible six, becoming a regular in the last round of qualifying, infallible at one lap. He only failed at the Austrian GP, and that was because Vettel got in his way when he was going to get through (in Britain he didn’t make Q3, but that didn’t count as qualifying…).

The pace of the Alpine on Sundays, however, did not always allow finishing in the top 10, although from Baku to the holidays Alonso did not stop adding, which left him in a total of eight finishes in the possible 10 points.

• Alonso at the 2021 Styrian GP . That Alonso had turned the situation around at the start was clear at the Styrian GP , where he held on to the top 10 with a good defense over Tsunoda to finish ninth, while Ocon could only finish 14th.
• Alonso at the 2021 Austrian GP . Then, on the same circuit and just a week later, at the Austrian GP , with a lot of effort, several overtaking and coming out victorious from a last-minute duel with Russell, he would finish 10th.

For his part, Ocon distrusted his step back, and asked Alpine for a change of chassis to match Fernando.

• Alonso at the 2021 British GP . The change of chassis for Ocon came at Silverstone, where F1 debuted a sprint race format, and there we saw another of Alonso’s great moments in 2021. On Friday, in qualifying, he could only be 11th, but he shone on Saturday in the short race (only 16 laps), where he took fifth with a brutal start, and would end up sixth with a great position defense for a long time against Vettel.

In the race he could not advance, but he won a duel against Vettel and another against Stroll to finish seventh, for the fifth consecutive grand prix in points. And if the final laps of Baku and the Silverstone sprint race were two of his peaks in F1, Alonso put the finishing touch to the first half of the season in Hungary.

• Alonso at the 2021 Hungarian GP . There he also reached Q3, again without problems, and stopped a very fast Lewis Hamilton (who was two and a half seconds faster and was aiming to win) for more than 10 laps allowing his teammate Ocon to win. Alonso was fourth after disqualifying Vettel, but the Frenchman thanked him for his contribution and all of Formula 1 was full of praise.

Gone are the few doubts that there were at the beginning, and the two-time champion faced the holidays accumulating Q3 and the top 10, as we knew him, reaching the results that his car allowed him.

• Alonso at the 2021 Belgian GP . Like all of F1, the Asturian suffered the farce of the ‘no race’ at Spa, where the rain caused the start to be delayed again and again until only two races were held behind the Safety Car. This prevented Alonso, who He had qualified 12th and became 11th after Checo Pérez’s accident on the way to the grid, he had no chance to fight for the points, and he had to stay, like the rest of the drivers, in the position he occupied.
• Alonso at the 2021 Dutch GP. With no time for great regrets, Alonso and Alpine got off to a good start in Zandvoort, being among the best on Friday. On Saturday he reached Q3, and from the ninth starting position, and thanks to a start of his own (he gained two positions at the start) he managed to finish sixth, returning to the points path.
• Alonso at the 2021 Italian GP. Monza hosted the weekend’s second sprint experiment, but failed to put together a good qualifying lap on Friday and could only qualify 13th for Saturday’s sprint. There he left a great moment again, earning recognition for the action of the race with the overtaking he made to Vettel outside the second chicane. From the tenth starting position (because of a Bottas penalty) he could do little, but he took advantage of the famous accident between Hamilton and Verstappen to finish eighth.
• Alonso at the 2021 Russian GP . In Sochi, the Spaniard and Alpine were competitive from the start, and on Saturday came his best classification so far, being 6th. In the madness at the end of the race, the #14 managed to shine on dry tires in the rain making it to the podium with two laps to the checkered flag, but would eventually be forced to make an extra stop and drop to 6th. square. The podium narrowly escaped…
• Alonso at the 2021 Turkish GP . In Istanbul, Alonso repeated sixth place in the standings, but Hamilton’s penalty allowed him to start fifth, in his best starting position so far this season. The Spaniard escaped a penalty for an incident during yellow flags, and went all out for a great result on Sunday. However, a touch from Gasly at the start squandered his chances, sending him to the back of the grid. The Frenchman was penalized, as also happened to Alonso after causing Mick Schumacher to spin in a race to forget.
• Alonso at the 2021 United States GP . And if the appointment in Russia was complicated, the one in the United States was no less stormy for Alonso, who suffered an accident on Friday in FP2, on Saturday he only went out to qualify to help his teammate Ocon (he had a penalty for changing motor) and on Sunday he starred in the controversy of the race. Raikkonen overtook him to the limit that left him furious, and he attacked the other Alfa Romeo, Giovinazzi’s, with everything. The stewards asked him to return the position (something Raikkonen had not been forced to do), and Alonso did it with a masterful move, forcing the Italian out on the next lap so that the stewards also made Giovinazzi return the place.

After that, he would continue to fight to get into the points zone, but had to leave due to a problem with his front wing.

• Alonso at the 2021 Mexican GP . After two empty Grand Prix, and after a week of rest, things did not start better in Mexico, where Alonso was eliminated at the first change in qualifying, in Q1. However, the penalties to other drivers allowed him to start 12th, and he managed to manage the race well to avoid problems and end up scoring points thanks to ninth position.
• Alonso at the 2021 Brazilian GP . Interlagos was the third and final venue for a sprint weekend, and Alonso slipped into the top 10 in Friday’s qualifying. On Saturday he surprised by leading FP2, but then a bad start in the sprint race left him 12th for Sunday’s race. There, he was able to return to the points, although a slow pitstop for his team hampered his strategy, and he finally had to settle for ninth place before the last treble of the year.
• Alonso at the 2021 Qatar GP. Despite going through a difficult streak with bad luck, the key moment of Alonso’s 2021 season came in Losail. On Saturday he surprised by qualifying fifth, his best result of the year in qualifying, and after the sanctions on Bottas and Verstappen he would start third. There the two-time champion clung to brilliantly add a podium seven years later, the first since 2014 and his 98th podium in Formula 1.

• Alonso at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP . From everything to nothing, this was Alonso’s next appointment in F1, at the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in history. On Friday he confirmed his good run with fifth place, but in qualifying he fell in Q2 with a car that was difficult to understand. Without rhythm, he would finish 13th on a Sunday that he defined as “an ugly day”.
• Alonso at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. At the last stop of the year, Alonso was sixth on Friday but was upset by Ricciardo in qualifying and went down in Q2. Despite his anger, he kept a cool head on Sunday to finish the season in the points with an alternative and aggressive strategy that allowed him to finish eighth and put the finishing touch to a very positive year.

Then, on Wednesday of that week, the Spaniard completed 148 laps in the 18-inch Pirellis at the Abu Dhabi post-season test. And there ended a brilliant 2021 for Fernando Alonso, the one of his return to the highest category.

A year in which one cannot forget how ‘The Plan’ came about, which went from meme to reality and which even Alpine carried on its rear wing the last weekend of the season. The Plan speaks of 2022, and it can be argued that everything that happened in 2021 has gone smoothly to prepare for a year that seems exciting.

Alonso returned to F1 to shorten the coupling deadlines in the face of the new 2022 rules, yes, but also to enjoy himself. He did it and those of us who followed him. Let the races come back and above all… may 2022 be as even as it promises. The wizard never left.

In detail, the numbers of Fernando Alonso’s 2021 season in Formula 1

All photos of Fernando Alonso in F1 2021

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