20 years ago Fernando Alonso won for the first time in F1

The Spaniard became the youngest winner in the category, breaking a 51-year-old record

Fernando Alonso has always been considered a promising driver. Managed by Flavio Briatore, head of the Benetton/Renault team, it was tested for the first time in 1999 by Minardi. In 2001 he signed with the team, the worst on the grid, but showed a good performance with the limited resources available to the team. By Briatore’s choice, in 2002 he took a sabbatical year, working as a test driver for Renault and also testing cars from other teams, such as Jaguar.

In 2003, Briatore put the Spaniard as driver at Renault and soon took pole in the second race of the season, the Malaysian GP, ​​aged 21 years, 7 months and 23 days, becoming the youngest pole position holder, beating Rubens Barrichello’s record , who took pole at the 1994 Belgian GP aged 22 years, 3 months and 5 days. In the end he didn’t win the race, but reached third place, beating Ralf Schumacher’s age record.

Fernando Alonso generated a phenomenon called “Alonsomania”. After all, Spain had not had such an important driver in the category. The stands of the Spanish GP, the fifth round of the championship, are packed. Alonso came in 2nd place and sent the audience into a frenzy. That year the championship was proving to be very even, with Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) competing directly for the title.

Alonso showed a consistent performance: after the 12th stage of the German GP, ​​he was in 6th place in the championship, with 44 points, double his teammate, Jarno Trulli. Alonso also annoyed the three great powers of the time: Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, preceding David Coulthard (McLaren), with less than 10 points (a victory) of Ralf Schumacher (Williams) and Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari).

The race in Hungary was promising and could change the championship, with Michael Schumacher leading with 71 points, followed by Montoya with 65 points and Kimi Raikkonen with 62 points. The scenario was that of war, especially between the two tire suppliers: Bridgestone and Michelin, at the time each supplied five teams on the grid, the Japanese for Ferrari, BAR, Sauber, Jordan and Minardi, the French for Williams, McLaren, Renault , Toyota and Jaguar.

Other factors also spiced up the race: Michael Schumacher did not score a win in four races; the performance of the Michelin tires was superior especially on a track with high temperatures. Bridgestone accused the rival of having an illegal tire, which expanded during the race beyond what was allowed by the regulations, but until then there was no concrete evidence on the matter.

At that time, qualifying took place in two sessions: on Friday the drivers started in descending order of position in the championship for just one lap. Their placement in this session defined their position in Saturday qualifying, also on a single lap, with the amount of fuel they would lose on Sunday. Alonso was only sixth in the first session, Jarno Trulli setting the fastest lap. But on Saturday nobody stopped Fernando Alonso, who clocked 1m21s688, 0s256 ahead of 2nd placed Ralf Schumacher.

Saturday’s sad note went to Ralph Firman. The Jordan driver was the victim of a huge accident after the rear wing of his car detached in free practice 3, leaving him out for two races, being replaced by Zsolt Baumgartner, the first and only Hungarian driver in the category.

On Sunday there were doubts about Alonso’s chances of winning. There was speculation that the Spaniard could be lighter than the others and lose in strategy, as happened in the Malaysian GP. At the start, luck smiled on the Spaniard, who got off to a very good start and gave his opponents no chance, helped by the Renault’s launch control, the best at the time.

But things got even better. Mark Webber (Jaguar) took second position after the disastrous start of Ralf Schumacher, who however began to fight with his teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, who started from 4th place. In the confusion, the German raced and fell to 18th while the Colombian finished in 8th. Followed by Barrichello and Raikkonen, MIchael Schumacher finished only 7th.

On the third lap, Rubens Barrichello made a mistake trying to overtake Webber, losing the position to Raikkonen, the situation was calm for Fernando, Webber didn’t have the pace to keep pace and kept Raikkonen, the difference reached 21 second on lap 13, when Alonso and Webber stopped, the Spaniard stopped in 6s4, which proved to be very fast, Raikkonen remained on track for another two laps, in 7s6.

During the stops, Montoya managed to gain the position of Schumacher, an important fight in the fight for the title. On lap 19, Rubens Barrichello, the best car on Bridgestone tyres, retired with suspension failure. Alonso showed in the 2nd stint that he’s not joking, managing to further increase the gap from Raikkonen, who reached 27 seconds on lap 28.

Alonso maintained a constant pace, making the third stop without losing the lead, to then control the pace and win by 16s768 ahead of 2nd place. But the fight behind the Spaniard is intense: Trulli, Montoya, Michael and Ralf Schumacher fight for 4th place, the Italian doesn’t find it easy and manages to maintain the position until the pit stop on lap 32.

After the break, the three competitors were free to pick up the pace. The Williams drivers pitted and managed to get back ahead of Trulli, minus Michael Schumacher. Montoya also managed to pass Webber at the stop sign and took third position and began a chase behind Raikkonen. Ralf Schumacher overtook the Jaguar driver on track and jumped up to 4th place. David Coulthard, who had been on a two-stop strategy, pitted and joined Jarno Trulli and Michael Schumacher, who would still make the third stop.

When all the drivers who had been using a three-stop strategy stopped, David Coulthard was able to work his way up to fifth position, stealing the position from Mark Webber. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher was stuck behind Jarno Trulli. Montoya, chasing Raikkonen, spun on lap 61, managed to recover and remained in third, with Ralf Schumacher leading his teammate until the end of the race.

Apparently, Williams gave the order not to argue at that point in the race, because at the start of the race the two hadn’t done anything well. Michael Schumacher, in addition to not being able to overtake Trulli, even took a lap from Alonso at the end of the race. After the end of the race, things got even tighter for the German, bringing the Ferrari man to 72 points, Montoya to 71 and Raikkonen to 70.

Fernando Alonso made history: in addition to jumping to 5th place in the championship, with 54 points, he became the first Spaniard to win in F1 and the only one until 2022 (Carlos Sainz in Great Britain). He also broke Troy Ruttman’s record from 1952 to become the youngest winner in history at age 22 years and 26 days. His record would later be broken by Sebastian Vettel (21 years, 2 months and 11 days) and Max Verstappen (18 years, 7 months and 15 days), but at the time it was the 51-year mark. .

In the last three rounds of the championship, Alonso had a series of bad luck: in Italy, starting 20th after problems, he even crashed at the start with Justin Wilson, but without damage and finished 8th. In the US and Japan he retired with engine problems. Eventually he finished 6th in the league, a great performance for a first year in an intermediate squad.

Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.