Has "hungry shark" Alonso timed his Renault return perfectly?

Fernando Alonso sees his 2021 return to Formula 1 with Renualt as a building year ahead of the 2022 rules shakeup. After many mistimed career steps, Daniel Ricciardo's recent form suggests Alonso may be doing a bit more than simply laying foundations

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As Daniel Ricciardo stood on the podium at the Nurburgring and raised his third-place trophy to the cheers of the Renault team members below, there would surely have been a pang of sadness.

All of the work that Ricciardo and Renault have done together since his arrival in 2019 had been leading up to that moment - and yet their partnership has just six more races to run.

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Author Luke Smith

Luke Smith is Autosport’s Formula 1 reporter. Luke has been working in F1 as a journalist since 2013, initially alongside a History degree at University College London. Luke served as the lead F1 writer at American broadcaster NBC Sports from 2013-17 before spending two years as the F1 Editor for Crash.net. Luke joined Autosport for the 2020 season.

Luke is also a contributor to The New York Times for its F1 special reports, and has previously worked with Al Jazeera and CNBC, as well as hosting FIA press conferences. Outside of F1, Luke is a fan of sports and music, with an ever-growing vinyl collection, and has being bitten by the running bug in recent years. He also runs a surprisingly popular blog reviewing the often-terrible media centre coffee from his F1 travels.