Reasons Fernando Alonso could not beat Sebastian Vettel – Formula 1 Special
The 2012 F1 season saw Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso dominating the first half of the season as he lead the drivers’ championship.
On the other hand, defending champions, Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel were witnessed struggling with their car which is known to be the quickest on the grid. While Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber was trailing Alonso with forty points by the mid of the
season, nobody could have judged that Red Bull and Vettel will be the winners at the end of the season.
Following the end of the season, the twelve F1 team bosses voted Alonso as the best driver of the season but then what went wrong that led Vettel to secure a lead over him and then maintain it right until the season ending Brazilian Grand Prix to defeat
Alonso by three points.
Many reasons could be discussed as to what kept Alonso away from beating Vettel while he was extracting the best out of a weaker car. One of the most discussed quality of Alonso’s this past season has been his ability to work so well with a car that was
not as quick as his rivals.
Vettel was quite frustrated with his car in the beginning but got back into form from Singapore after which he kept wining until India. The Red Bull driver came across some very unlucky incidents after the Indian GP but by that time, his lead had become
strong enough.
Alonso could have taken the very fruitful opportunity at the Abu Dhabi GP where Vettel was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity and was to start the race from the pit lane. However, Vettel proved with that race that he has the ability to overtake as he
came third while Alonso maintained his second place not overtaking Lotus F1’s Kimi Raikkonen. The Ferrari driver needs to learn how to take risks like his rival and of course he has the experience to know which are the right moments to do so.
Another reason could be the fact that the Spanish driver was considerably lacking in qualifying pace in the last races of the season as compared to Vettel. Alonso was even slower than his teammate Felipe Massa who was actually recovering from a rough performance.
Had Alonso been qualifying in top three, he could have given Vettel a stronger challenge.
Something that nobody can deny is the difference between the quickness of these two rival cars. If Alonso was given a better car than he had, he would have been stronger considering what he can already work out from a weaker one. He has also been pushing
Ferrari to take the technical regulations to the edge like Red Bull does which might help him.
In the end, luck has also been a factor in Vettel’s victory but that should not lead the critics to underestimate his abilities as a driver. He was lucky in Abu Dhabi due to the safety cars but then he knew how to avail that opportunity. He recovered from
a first lap collision in Brazil but was definitely lucky since he came through all the things that went wrong later in the race.
Alonso as a driver could not have done anymore than he already has but in order to beat Red Bull, Ferrari needs to improve the car and change their racing strategies.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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