2010 bought in new faces into new cars like Michael Schumacher's🇩🇪 F1 return for Mercedes Benz Nico Hulkenburg🇩🇪 for Williams, Jenson Button🇬🇧 at McLaren but what most can remember about this year is Fernando Alonso🇪🇸 teamming up with Ferrari. This was welcomed for the Spaniard after 3 controversial tough years. 2007 he missed the championship by just 1 point to Kimi Raikkonen🇫🇮 in his year with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. But it was controversial about how he and Lewis Hamilton🇬🇧 raced one another and how things were behind closed doors. So a return to Renault was the decision Fernando made. Well it wasn't like his time when he initially was with them. Fernando Alonso won 2 straight world championships in 2005 and 2006 with Renault but 2008 and 2009 bought little to smile about. True he won 2 races in 2008. One at Singapore🇸🇬, but in 2009 it was found out that Renault rigged the race by getting Alonso's teammate Nelson Piquet Jr🇧🇷 to crash himself out on purpose. The 2008 Japanese grand prix win was the only other win by pure pace and ironically a podium at Singapore in 2009. So 2010 Fernando Alonso just wanted to start over by joining Ferrari and he started the year off with a victory in Bahrain🇧🇭. Alonso would start 3rd at Australia🇦🇺 but would go backwards after a tap from Jenson Button sent the Ferrari around but after a saftey car came out for Kamui Kobayashi🇯🇵, Nico Hulkenburg 🇩🇪, and Sebastian Buemi🇨🇭 bunched the field back up. The saftey car comes in and Alonso now has a lot of work to do if he is gonna win now as he is currently 18th. Lap 8 comes around and he is now 13th. Next lap is a stampede of pit stops for dry tires as Button is flying. Lap 13 Alonso is now all over the rear wing of Pedro De la Rosa's🇪🇸 Sauber and passes him for 9th and gets by the Williams of Rubens Barrichello🇧🇷 for 8th. Now ahead of him was Hamilton, Webber🇦🇺, and his teammate Felipe Massa🇧🇷 Webber was simple because the Aussie locked up and went wide in turn 3. But he would lose the place to Webber at lap 22 after going wide in the wet line in turn 3. After Sebastian Vettel🇩🇪 retired from a brake faliure moves Alonso up to 7th. Sebastian's teammate would pit for fresh tires as well as Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Fernando eventually asks his engineer on the radio why they stopped. He was told that they were worried if their tires would make the end of the race but they are doing about the same lap times as he was. Well Hamilton and Webber would close up as the closing phase approaches but after they collided behind him as Alonso would finish 4th after being last after the first corner. This allowed him to keep the points lead over Felipe Massa so heading to Malaysia🇲🇾, the Spaniard would have to overcome a bad qualifying effort as rain would relegate him to 19th on the grid. He would drive all the way to 9th and race with Button for 8th until his engine expired. Fernando dealt with a gearbox problem all weekend so it was disappointing that an engine problem finished his day 3 laps before the race ended but it wasn't so bad in the championship as he'd only fall to 2nd 2 points behind Massa. The next race at China🇨🇳 would see Alonso start 3rd and get an amazing start to jump the two Red Bulls but it might be too amazing as both McLaren drivers say he jumped the start. So another wrench to throw is it that after a wreck containing Sebastian Buemi, Vitantonio Liuzzi🇮🇹, and Kamui Kobayashi brings out the saftey car. And now it is raining and now Alonso, Hamilton, both Red Bulls, and others pit for intermediates. He'd come out first of the drivers on the inters in 7th place but Fernando would get a drive through penalty for jumping the start. And to add insult to injury the track wasn't wet enough for intermediates so Alonso would have to pit again for dry tires. So all of this put him back in 13th. By lap 20 and he'd pit for intermediates as rain returns. Fernando also managed to get by Felipe Massa into the pit lane gaining him a place. The saftey car is out for debris so this is a opportunity to gain some points for the Spaniard as he'd restart 10th. The race would go back green and now Alonso is up to 8th. 7th after he passes Schumacher. Alonso would continue his recovery by passing Adrian Sutil🇩🇪 in turn 14. Alonso would continue his recovery drive to finish 4th. This places Alonso 3rd in the championship 11 points behind championship leader reigning champion Jenson Button. Next was his home grand prix, Spain🇪🇸 where he is motivated to return to the podium or even win the race in front of his home fans. He'd start 4th and looked like he'd finish there but after Vettel faded from brake problems and Hamilton crashed out with 2 laps to go put the Spaniard into 2nd place. Well his fortune would be tested at Monaco🇮🇩, after a wreck in final practice Ferrari couldn't repair his car in time to participate in qualifying meaning Alonso would start dead last from the pit lane. Well he would try to overtake the HRT of Karun Chandhok🇮🇳 but couldn't as Nico Hulkenburg's Williams wrecked from a component faliure on the front wing bringing out the saftey car which Alonso used to his advantage by pitting for the prime tires. So an aggressive strategy from Ferrari hopes to get Alonso track position since his mandatory stop is out of the way he can stay out for the rest of the race if the tires can hold on. The saftey car comes in and Alonso restarts 21st but right on the restart Alonso's recovery drive begins as on lap 7 gets by Chandhok now the Virgin of Lucas di Grazzi🇧🇷 should be easy right? Nope the Brazilian isn't intimadated by a Ferrari in his mirrors and Alonso is a little frustrated as he waved his hand in frustration going up casino square but 3 laps later he would get by the Virgin and by Jarno Trulli's🇮🇹 Lotus. Lap 15 he is by Timo Glock's🇩🇪 Virgin but is over 30 seconds out of the lead but everyone still has to stop so a points finish is still possible. Lap 17 and Alonso is by all of the back marker teams now ahead was the midfielders. But Hamilton pits for his scheduled stop and is ahead of Alonso. Hamilton was running 5th so this could be good a top 5 finish is up for grabs for Fernando Alonso. After everyone pits Alonso is up to 6th place, well... before Michael Schumacher seized the opportunity by overtaking him just as the saftey car went in a the last corner of the last lap but at least Alonso kept 6th after Schumacher got a time penalty. Next was turkey. No not ACTUAL turkey the COUNTRY Turkey🇹🇷 the 800th grand prix for Ferrari so things would be special for the Italian team.......or at least that's what they wanted as Alonso only qualified 12th and could only finish 8th behind his teammate. It was a disappointing run for an 800th grand prix for Ferrari. But the 801st at Canada🇨🇦 would be a little better for Alonso but Massa couldn't say the same as Massa would tangle with Vitantonio Liuzzi at the start so Felipe already has a lot of work to do while Alonso would maintain 3rd and put pressure on Vettel for 2nd but would lose out cause the option tyre he is on at lap 7 are already off the cliff. The next lap he pits for primes and jumps Lewis Hamilton in the pits. Fernando would be 6th and get 5th when Kubica pits he'd eventually be 2nd behind Sebastian Buemi's Toro Rosso into turn 10 as he is really getting held up as Hamilton gets past him into the turn 11 chicane while Buemi pits. Lap 26 and Alonso looked to return the favor but Hamilton pits so he gets the lead. Alonso takes the time to set 2 fastest laps so it would seem he could go long but nope, he pits again sandwiched in between the McLarens. But with 14 to go after being stuck behind lap traffic cost him 2nd to Jenson Button. Alonso would get his first podium since Spain and speaking of Spain Formula one would return to there not for the Spanish grand prix but for the European🇪🇺 grand prix. Things would start off good for Fernando he would jump from 4th to 3rd and start catching up to Lewis Hamilton but a saftey car would come out after a horrific crash from Mark Webber flipping after hitting the back of Hekki Kovalainen's🇫🇮 Lotus he'd flip over but thankfully both drivers are ok. But it would not be so simple true he and everyone pits for the prime tires but something seemed of and Fernando would agree as the spainard would slow down and get behind the saftey car but Hamilton went by the saftey car while Fernando and others lost out massively from the saftey car Hamilton kept his position and Alonso wasn't happy as he would say he just straight up passed the saftey car. When it came out of the pits Hamilton was racing to get to the saftey car line to beat said saftey car so he could lose minimum time to Vettel but he lost the race to the saftey car but is running 2nd while the race restarted Fernando Alonso was in 10th. As the race got going he got by Nico Hulkenburg for 9th but the Spaniard was seeing red. Not from racing with Hulkenburg, not from his car or his teammate but about Lewis Hamilton. He isn't letting that incident go as he says on lap 17 to his engineer "Keep working with Charlie with Hamilton. It's the only thing you have to do the whole race." "Yes we have, we are speaking to him." Says Ferrari. The Scuderia weren't pleased with it either. It took until lap 28 until the stewards gave him a drive through penalty and this was Alonso's response "Which position he was and which position he is now?" His engineer said "Ok he was 2nd he is 2nd that's really unfair, that's very unfair, so like no penalty but today we look at ourselves we cannot do anything about this now. Look at ourselves, let's get most of the points and we will see what happens afterwards." Well what would happen afterwards was a 9th place finish but he got 8th after the race cause Sebastian Buemi got a 5 second penalty for speeding under the saftey car. So he got 2 points but if he wins the championship by 2 points hey this is the race he could look back at. He and Ferrari hoped to put that misserable race behind them and Fernando would do so qualifying 3rd despite being held up by a Williams. After a rough start he'd seem to settle in on the first lap until he and Felipe Massa collided giving the Brazilian a puncture. Fernando would be stuck behind Robert Kubica🇵🇱 and Nico Rosberg🇩🇪 after pitstops Rosberg got his Mercedes past the Renualt now it was Alonso's turn but in the second to last corner the Spainard is off the track at lap 17. Now the question is will he have to give the place back? The Ferrari driver says he was pushed off the track. Well, he couldn't even if he wanted to as Kubica would retire for a transmission faliure 3 laps later. His compatriot Pedro De la Rosa lost pieces of his rear wing on the backstretch of the track bringing out a safety car and "Oh my goodness me!" as former analyst James Allen would say as Fernando Alonso gets a drive through penalty for overtaking Kubica off the track! And to make matters worse he has to serve the penalty when the racing gets restarted. So Fernando just can't seem to catch a break after that victory in Bahrain. And to add even more salt to the wounds he pitted late from a left rear puncture with 3 laps to go and finishes a horrible 14th place. This puts him 5th 47 points out of the lead so going into Germany🇩🇪 with 9 races left in the world championship a rebound was needed NOW to salvage his championship bid. Well, by 2 thousands of a second he lost pole to Vettel but the good thing is that the Ferrari have found the pure pace now they need to execute the race with Alonso 2nd and Massa 3rd they really need a great result to take the fight to Red Bull and McLaren in the championship. Well Fernando did what he needed to do by getting past Sebastian Vettel into turn 1 but would still be 2nd to Felipe Massa. Sebastian's car was bogged down on the start so he was focused on Fernando which gave his teammate a golden opportunity to get the lead. After the pitstops Alonso would begin to make gains on Felipe and before going to the hairpin he tries to make a move but Massa defends and Alonso wanted to go for it in turn 7 and 8 but the gap wasn't there and here is a team radio. "Ok guys this is ridiculous." says Alonso. Ok maybe he's slightly frustrated about maybe wanting more room but the Ferraris seem to be evenly matched as Massa would create a gap to 3.4 seconds but Fernando would definitely close the gap back down with the closing stages approaching and with 20 laps to go we hear this not from Fernando but Felipe was told this by his engineer Rob Smedley "Ok so, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?" But what was that about? Does Felipe need to pick it up? But they seemed so even but the next lap Massa slowed down out of turn 6 and LETS Fernando Alonso by to get the lead. And more team radio for Massa as the Brazilian hears "Ok mate good lad. Just stick with him now. Sorry." Well he would win for Ferrari in Germany even though he was thinking about his teammate as he would ask about his teammate if he lost a gear but would say Felipe is fine. But what wouldn't be so fine is the drama now about Ferrari as they have been fined 100,000 dollars for using team orders and the FIA motorsport council would examine this before the Italian🇮🇹 grand prix. Well..... so much for a no drama in his Ferrari career. Now there is a use of team orders when the rule is banned on Alonso's record. It is crystal clear now that Ferrari are focused on Getting Fernando the title this year. So heading to Hungary🇭🇺 Fernando and Ferrari need to strike back to put Germany behind and make up points in the championship. He would strike the Red Bull of Mark Webber at the start from 3rd and gets up to 2nd. He would just be ahead of Mark Webber for the first 15 laps but a saftey car for debris would change that. Now Alonso is 3rd the race leader Sebastian Vettel is 2nd and Webber stayed out to get the lead. "Ok Fernando, Vettel is also under investigation. Vettel is also under investigation so I want you to push but I also want you to be wise." Is what the Spainard gets told to which he replied "Ok ok understood." And his engineer was right because just before halfway Vettel gets the drive through penalty for being more than 10 car lengths behind his teammate Mark Webber on the restart giving Alonso 2nd. He would have to go against a charging Sebastian Vettel to keep said spot but Fernando did it and is only 20 points behind Mark Webber in the title race now heading into the summer break and then to Belgium🇧🇪. He would have his work cut out for him at race time though when all Fernando could get out of his car was 10th place in qualifying. He was so slow gambling on some rain to appear race time. The race would begin and he would get up to 8th passing both Williams cars but into the final chicane rain would fall into that part of the track and gets RAMMED by Rubens Barrichello. A disappointing way to end his 300th grand prix but for Alonso's sake he is able to continue. But due to the rain Ferrari takes a chance to put him on intermediates. However that was a short shower so he would have to get slicks back on. Fernando is now on the move, at lap 9 out of Eau Rouge he easily passes Pedro De la Rosa and just into sector 3 passes Jarno Trulli's Lotus to get 14th. 4 laps later and going up Eau Rouge once more and Alonso wants by Liuzzi but the Italian isn't going to let the Italian car go without a fight. A couple of laps later in the last chicane the Ferrari would get past the Force India. Alonso would get 4 more positions after Vettel and Button collided, plus Nico Hulkenburg and Vitaly Petrov pitted so Alonso is now 9th. And then after rain makes an appearance intermediates are the tires to be on and after everyone pits Fernando is in 8th. And it appeared to be a disappointing run for Fernando but it would get even worse when he wrecked his Ferrari in turn 7 ending his race and instead of scoring 4 points he scored NOTHING. And this bad race put him 41 points behind Lewis Hamilton. And going to the Italian🇮🇹 grand prix Alonso would make a statement to the media knowing what he has to do. "Before Spa we were all in a very small difference, small gap. And then after 1 race the gap did increase but this can change very quickly race by race. We saw this year with the new points system it can change really quickly. And then normally with the championships we saw 2 maximum 3 guys fighting in the past this year with 5 or 6 guys at the front you can really easily be 1st or 6th or 7th if you have a bad weekend. So you can lose a win, many points if you do good or not good. So our aim is to do 6 races at the top level our best we can and we'll see what at the end we can do." And the FIA looked into what happened at the German grand prix like they said they would was also found that at some point during the race he would say "I'm much quicker than Felipe." His engineer replied "Ok Fernando we got your message. We got your message." But despite that Ferrari wouldn't be punished further for that race and team orders would eventually be made legal for 2011. So now after that all the focus would be at the race and for any Ferrari fan they were jumping with pure delight when Fernando Alonso won the pole. Race day came and a race win is really going to be needed to keep his championship hopes alive. But Button had different ideas snatching the lead away into turn 1 and Alonso made contact with Jenson's rear which looked like it pushed the McLaren farther away. But however Fernando would not let him get away trading fastest laps with the leader and it was just what appeared to be a stalemate when they were just pushing like crazy trying to one up the other. And pitstops were coming and after Button gets told to give it everything he has Ferrari tell the double champion of F1 to stay glued to the McLaren and when Button pitted he was reminded to push with the first time being in clean air and now can the mechanics give Alonso the pitstop he needs to get to the lead? It was going to be close on the pit straightaway with Alonso on the inside Button on the outside and Fernando Alonso gets in front of Jenson Button out of turn 2 after both drivers nearly spin out! They are pushing so hard to the delight of the tifosi because their man is leading the Italian grand prix! Ferrari can't ask for much better for this, the last time a Ferrari won the Italian grand prix was in 2006 with Michael Schumacher but it would be bittersweet when he later announced he would retire from F1 and true the German is back in different colors, one thing for sure is not stopping is Fernando Alonso's championship challenge and takes an important step to that by winning the Italian grand prix in his first race with the Scuderia. How about that? What a race. This helps reignite his championship challenge because he now lies in 3rd 21 points back going to Singapore🇸🇬. And the momentum is still from Italy as Fernando puts his Ferrari on provisional pole. The start could easily helps Fernando claw more points out of his deficit to championship leader Webber. Lights out and he shuts the door on Sebastian Vettel at the start to retain the lead. Despite the saftey car coming out early for Vitantonio Liuzzi stoping out of the Singapore sling. When the saftey car came in Fernando gets a little loose at the restart but thankfully he can't be overtaken before the saftey car line. So in the first half of the race he bolted away from Sebastian Vettel. And at lap 30 though he is still being followed relatively close by Sebastian Vettel but would still be ahead of the Red Bull after the stops. But a saftey car would come out for a turn 18 wreck involving Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber and Christian Klien's🇦🇹 HRT. After the restart for the last 26 laps of the race Fernando Alonso would be pressured by Sebastian Vettel but he dealt with it brilliantly. Ferrari never scored a single point here at this track and true Alonso won in 2008 but it was a rigged race by his former team Renualt but in 2010 he would start on pole, lead every and set the fastest lap of the race, and win the Singapore grand prix. This would be his 4th win this season tied for the most wins with the points leader Mark Webber who is only 11 points ahead of Fernando who is now 2nd. Going to Japan🇯🇵 the Red Bulls appeared to be in another zip code so Alonso was aiming to push them into making a mistake, if he could not do that than he is aiming for the 3rd spot on the podium. He'd start 4th behind Vettel, Webber, and Kubica after Hamilton would drop 5 places after changing his gearbox after a practice crash. He would get to 3rd in a weird way though race day when the Renualt of Robert Kubica just lost his right rear wheel during the saftey car which came out for Felipe Massa, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Vitaly Petrov, and Nico Hulkenburg. Even stranger is that before the formation lap Lucas di Grazzi wrecked his Virgin at 130R. But hey Fernando is on the podium now and that's what he's fighting for now because by lap 11 a few laps after the saftey car went in the Ferrari is 4 and a half seconds behind the leader Vettel and 3.2 behind points leader Webber and his pace just isn't fast enough to challenge them because Webber just posted a personal best lap. Pitstops would cycle out and he is actually posting faster lap times than the 2 leaders ahead of him. Lap 35 his engineer would ask hin to pick up the pace to see if he can close up to then even though Alonso would say that he already is and that he just needed some laps without traffic to show what he's made of. What he is made of is 3rd where he finished losing 3 points to championship leader Webber and now sharing 2nd with the race winner Sebastian Vettel 14 points out of the lead going to the inaugural Korean🇰🇷 grand prix. A new challenge for all drivers on a level playing field. What wasn't level however was the rain. "It's the worst condition I ever drove a car. It's completely impossible I don't know where is Webber." So the race was red flagged. 17 laps, one hour and forty minutes later than planned the race was officially underway. The conditions are still tricky out on track as Fernando would say that a DNF in this championship battle as close as it is can easily be the end of your championship hopes. But the end of the race lies for Mark Webber! After hitting the curb out of turn 12 he kissed the wall and came right in the path of Nico Rosberg ending their afternoons. He is now up to 2nd in the race and if the race ended now he'd be 7 points behind the race leader Sebastian Vettel. In the mindscape it would be a small gain towards Alonso's championship aspirations. His race would take a hit when pitting for intermediate tires. The left rear and right front wheel nuts made a run for freedom but at least after that they only lost 1 spot to Hamilton when the Ferrari mechanics had extra wheel nuts right in front of them. Lap 35 and the race is back green after Sebastian Buemi wrecked and Fernando got his spot back after his former for at McLaren made a mistake into turn 1. But no mistake is needed for Fernando now while the midfield have their battles and mistakes no mistake is needed. Still in a great position for the championship gaining more points on the leader but a chance to maximize the day by winning the race still exists. 10 laps to go and he has a run at Sebastian and gets past him getting into turn 1 and Vettel is slowing! Sebastian Vettel's car is smoking and it's an engine faliure that gives Fernando Alonso the lead! Fernando after the British grand prix said that he would win the championship but everyone thought he was crazy but now after a strong push at the end of the season the Spaniard is hot when it matters most by winning the race getting the top step of the podium for the 5th time this season! AND he has done something he has never done since Australia the 2nd race of the season, leave the weekend with the points lead! 11 points separate him from his closest challenger Mark Webber going to the penultimate race at Brazil🇧🇷. But he needs another great performance with the pace of the Red Bull and how many times things have changed throughout this season. He starts 5th behind his championship rivals. But he would be pushing to get ahead of them to save his championship lead. He would push first by attacking Lewis Hamilton at lap 2 but his former McLaren rival wasn't giving up without a fight but into turn 4 Hamilton gets loose and goes wide! Fernando Alonso is now up to 4th with 1 championship rival behind him and 2 of them ahead but to catch them he would need to pass Nico Hulkenburg. It would not be easy from the German placing his Williams in the right spots to defend when Alonso had a chance to pass into turn 1. But lap 7 said otherwise when Fernando got a great exit out of turn 3 and goes to turn 4 and wanted to go around the outside but goes down the inside of Nico Hulkenburg to get in the podium places! But he just doesn't have the pace to catch the Red Bulls being near half a second faster some laps but either way they were faster than Fernando. Despite the efforts that the Spainard would try he would finish 3rd keeping a 8 point lead over Mark Webber. This meant that going into the season finale at Abu Dhabi🇦🇪 he would need a 2nd place to get his 3rd world championship in Formula 1. And over the last few months over the interviews Fernando gave to the media he was constantly saying that he needs victories and podiums. It was to a point where he sounded like a broken record, podiums podiums podiums! Need to be fighting for the victory, over and over and over again! But it has worked out massively especially after the summer break Fernando Alonso has been very consistent and doing well. 7 of the last 8 races he has either won or finished on the podium. 1 more podium will be needed here but in order to get the best chance for a podium first, he must qualify well. And that's what he did qualifying 3rd crucially ahead of Mark Webber who qualified his Red Bull 5th. If he finishes in position 3 than Alonso will be a 3 time Formula 1 world champion and the Spainard is ready to go. "It's looking good. It's looking good. Tomorrow we have a chance of winning the race. We can do it." The championship leader is in a very calm state of mind with the weight of Spain on his shoulders and this was it. After 55 laps around the Yas Marina Circuit there will be a new champion but who is it gonna be? Lights out and away goes Fernando Alonso but he loses out to Jenson Button in turn but it's all good in the championship being ahead of Mark Webber but still breathing down his neck in turn 7 and the saftey car comes out for Michael Schumacher and Vitantonio Liuzzi having a scary wreck but both drivers are A-ok. Restart time and while the leaders pull away Fernando Alonso appears to just be on a Sunday night drive keeping Webber behind and his teammate Felipe Massa behind. And now lap 12 and Mark Webber pits after complaining about losing his rear tires but after he still has good pace so Ferrari keep Fernando out for a few laps and at lap 16 there is this exchange on the radio. "Ok Fernando we box now. We box now." "Ok I'm coming." Being concerned about the degradation of the option tires Alonso reacts to what Red Bull did for Mark Webber and crucially stays ahead of the Australian. But it's not so straight forward because when the saftey car came out on the first lap Vitaly Petrov🇷🇺 and Nico Rosberg pitted and don't have to stop again so he has to pass them on the track in a lot of traffic containing Adrian Sutil, Sebastian Buemi, and Nico Hulkenburg so the pace of the faster cars are being slowed so Alonso just needs to get by Petrov wait for everyone in front to pit and charge after Nico Rosberg. And why is this important? Because if he doesn't get through the traffic up to 4th he will lose the championship to Sebastian Vettel. However, the dirty air would play against Fernando Alonso but he would recieve this message from his engineer "Ok I know and I see you doing your best but really it's critical to pass him. I know you're doing your best." So getting that encouragement could be a subtle reminder to take his time and perfect his pass on the Renault. And at lap 24 through out the first sector you could see how close he was just taking his time. Inch by inch like he's done all year long to have the championship lead going in the final race and he sniffs some slipstream of Petrov into turn 10 and just exactly as BBC commentator Johnathan Ledgard would say "Here comes Alonso going through the inside of Petrov but he's has to be careful not to lose- he's almost gone off the track! He has gone off the track! He cannot gain position though! Petrov's gone through and Alonso there, a little mistake!" But at least he hasn't lost anything to Mark Webber. So he tried an overtake into turn 10 and that mistake cost him a little bit of time and now he has to work to get back in thatovertaking range so he doesn't damage his car. Lap 29 however another mistake is made going wide into turn 1 due to frustration beginning to build for Fernando. And the Ferrari garage is starting to get tense knowing that the championship is beginning to slip away. Especially when the only other way for Fernando to be champion is that Vettel somehow loses the lead and Hamilton his McLaren enemy was his closest challenger for the win but he's stuck behind the other Renault of Robert Kubica. Lap 35 and Alonso is STILL stuck behind Petrov and he driving that Ferrari as fast as he could to get past the Russian going deeper than he normally does in turn 17. And now the race is getting towards it's end Nico Hulkenburg pits so maybe it'll open the door for extra race pace because Petrov was behind the Williams right? Nope not even a lap car slowing Petrov down was enough for Alonso to strike the Renault. What's even worse is that Sebastian Buemi pits giving Nico Rosberg some clean air so Alonso now has more time to work for to catch his championship winning 4th place. And to add the icing on the cake is that Robert Kubica who started the race on prime tires currently has the pace to come out AHEAD of Fernando Alonso! It's just getting from bad to worse for Fernando Alonso but still with 12 laps left in the season heres this final radio message. "Use the best of your talent. We know how big it is use it." A last boost of confidence for Fernando Alonso now who has seen his championship slip away farther and farther away with each second he spends behind Vitaly Petrov. Pushing as hard as he can if he is able to pass the Renualt he can post some fast laps and save himself from Kubica getting in front of him. But he just couldn't and he was fishtsiling that Ferrari in desperation mode going wide multiple times trying to save his championship bid. But with Sutil pitting, Kubica jumping him, and the short distance of the race left he finished 7th losing the title by 4 points. A season's worth of work gone. After everything he's been through this season stuck behind the team he won his first 2 championships with and had the controversy of crashgate with. And the disappointment and frustration was real when on the cooldown lap he was waving vigorously at Vitaly Petrov and from a racing fan point of view looked like he was blaming the Renault for costing him the championship but he had this to say

And to add salt to the wounds with the controversy he was trying to avoid by starting over at Ferrari came with the German grand prix scandal which didn't even help Fernando Alonso to the championship. But still many people look back at this year and ask themselves "What if he wasn't on a wrong strategy at Abu Dhabi?" "What if his race was never destroyed in Europe?" Or what might have been for Fernando Alonso in 2010?