Fernando Alonso is considered to be one of Formula 1’s best drivers having won two championships and come close to winning another two while at Ferrari.
The Spaniard is known for being an outstanding driver in cars that are not the quickest, which is what he did while at Ferrari when faced against Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull.
Alonso came close to winning the title in both 2010 and 2012 with Ferrari, just missing out in the final round on both occasions.
Marc Gene has been part of Ferrari as one of their test and reserve drivers and pinpointed why he thinks Alonso is such an impressive driver having worked with him, when speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
Marc Gene outlines one area that Fernando Alonso is ‘very intelligent’
Strategy is incredibly important in F1 as the opening races of the 2025 have shown, whether its being on the right tyre at the right time in Melbourne or calculating the best time to pit in China and Japan.
Gene outlines how Alonso was great at understanding the overall picture of a race, which gave him a significant advantage over others.
“Fernando was and is an outstanding driver in making the most of difficult situations, I think everybody remembers some epic wins. I remember one in Valencia from 11th on the grid,” said Gene.
“He was very good and his understanding of what was going on around the race, was very intelligent in that respect. But he came close but it didn’t happen. That’s just the way it is. F1 he came very close to Red Bull at the time in particular, but Sebastian Vettel was very dominant at that time, so he came close but not quite.”
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Max Verstappen has similar outlook to Fernando Alonso
Alonso has proven to be key to his teams in certain strategic positions, having contributed a lot to Aston Martin’s eight podiums during the 2023 season. He also extracts the most out of a car, having done so while at Renault despite not having the quickest car on the grid.
Max Verstappen’s ability to extract the most out of a car was on full display in the Japanese GP, first taking an unlikely pole position and then following up with a race win on Sunday.
Under intense pressure from both McLaren drivers he delivered Red Bull’s first win just three races into 2025, when it was looking like it would take a while for the Milton Keynes outfit to break their win drought.
Verstappen is now within a point of Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship following the race, putting further pressure on McLaren to win races to extend their lead.
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