Why the F1 title-winning Alonso is back, both on and off-track
OPINION: Fernando Alonso's lacklustre start to his Formula 1 comeback in 2021 raised questions about whether the same Spaniard many argue is one of the best drivers of the modern era was still in there. But recent events have shown the fire still burns inside the double world champion and that he still has the belief in himself to do the job.
Fernando Alonso’s first steps back into Formula 1 this season had left a lot of people uncertain about whether or not he had returned like the Spaniard of old. A fairly low key first weekend in Bahrain, where he ran in the points before brake problems forced him out, was followed by an even trickier event at Imola as he paid the price for a lack of experience of current F1 machinery in damp conditions.
With teammate Esteban Ocon hitting a run of form that peaked with a fifth place on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix, the cynics were quick to suggest that perhaps peak Alonso was long gone, and that maybe we would never see the brilliance that took him to back-to-back world titles in the mid-2000s.
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The recent Australian GP form history that will boost Ferrari in F1 2023
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