Fernando Alonso hasn’t won a Grand Prix in more than twelve years – but according to Oscar Piastri, that says nothing about the Spaniard’s abilities.
It’s now been 20 years since Fernando Alonso won his first Formula 1 world championship title. In 2005, the then 24-year-old became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history with Renault.
A year later, Alonso triumphed again with the French team, but the second title was also to remain his last (to date) in the premier class. However, many experts believe that Alonso actually deserved more world championships.
Current championship leader Oscar Piastri shares this view. “I have great respect for Fernando. I think he’s definitely a driver whose statistics don’t tell the whole story of his career,” emphasizes the McLaren driver.
He even considers Alonso “one of the best drivers this sport has ever seen,” says Piastri, who worked with Alonso at Alpine for some time. While Alonso was a regular driver there, Piastri acted as a test driver for the French team in 2021 and 2022.
“I get on well with him,” Piastri reports, revealing: “Watching him at work a few years ago was very enlightening for me, if only because of the questions he asked and the things he thought about.”
Alonso’s career marked by failed transfers
“In the end, that probably indirectly helped me learn a little faster. I think he’s a fantastic driver, and I believe that his results and statistics don’t even come close to reflecting his whole story,” said Piastri.
After his two world championship titles with Renault, Alonso’s career was mainly marked by moves that did not bring the desired success. In 2007, he moved to McLaren, but fell out with team boss Ron Dennis and returned to Renault after just one year. In 2010, he moved to Ferrari, where he finished runner-up in the world championship three times behind Sebastian Vettel in the following years, but did not win another title. In 2015, he moved back to McLaren, but with the Honda engine, he was only able to finish behind the leaders. After the 2018 season, he initially retired from Formula 1, but returned to Enstone for a third time in 2021. After two years there, he finally moved to Aston Martin in 2023, where he still drives today.
Alonso’s last Formula 1 victory at his home race in Spain in 2013 is now more than twelve years ago.
