Can Fernando Alonso steal the F1 title?
Back in July when Fernando Alonso finished 14th in the British Grand Prix and his odds of championship glory were down to an unfavourable 14-1, it looked very much like the Spaniard was set for another disappointing season.
However, since that failure at Silverstone, the former champion has hit some sparkling form, picking up three wins, a second place and an unfortunate retirement in his last five races to haul himself up the table and suddenly find himself in contention for the title.
This remarkable turnaround leaves the Ferrari driver in second place in the standings with just 11 points separating him and table leader Mark Webber.
It’s hard to look past the former Renault driver right now; he is in sensational form and looks unstoppable out there. He does have the added advantage of being the No.1 driver as well.
It must be very disheartening for teammate Felipe Massa, the Brazilian is in his first full season back from his head injury and should have got his first win in Germany, if it wasn’t for those team orders. That must have been crushing for Massa in more ways than one, however it proved that Alonso is the priority for Ferrari and the team will race to his strategy. Also how important could those points become the end of the season? Ferrari were only fined £65,000 for the incident, it’s safe to say they would take that for a drivers’ championship title.
It’s not plain sailing though. Webber still sits aloft the table, and he has driven solidly since his last win in Hungary, just lacking that cutting edge to take the victories. The Australian will kick himself if he doesn’t do it this year, while Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel has crumbled lately after a strong start to the season.
The other two in competition are the McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and they need to pull something spectacular out the bag in the last four races. Hamilton has arguably been the most consistent driver over the course of the season, but bad luck and a few errors have cost him dear. Two retirements in the last two races, particularly the unlucky one in Singapore, mean that the 2008 champ really needs some wins going into the last four.
While reigning champion Button has picked up the points this season, he just hasn’t really driven well enough to take the title for a second consecutive year. Realistically Button and Vettel have too much to do in the last couple of races to be in with a serious shout and the winner should come from Alonso, Hamilton and Webber.
It’s fair to say Webber and Hamilton have been the front runners for the majority of the season, but they have made a bit of an omelette of things and now the Spaniard could be set to take advantage.
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