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This year, 2012, will be remembered as one of the best Formula 1 seasons ever. Eight different winners, a driver lineup that featured seven champions on the grid, a long, twenty race calendar, a magnificent return to the United States and a championship battle that was decided at the final race of the season by only three points made this season exciting, unpredictable, chaotic, and sometimes overwhelming. From a fan’s point of view, it was nearly perfect. After a very one sided 2011 season dominated by Red Bull, 2012 is exactly what the sport needed. However, there is still one thing missing: Rivalry - between drivers, teammates, and the teams. Hate is again needed in Formula 1.
Formula 1’s greatest days were fueled by fiery battles between great drivers who respected, but disliked each other. These battles between Lauda/Hunt, Mansell/Piquet, Senna/Prost and Schumacher/Hakkinen have made F1 what is it today and created legends of the sport. These greats disliked each other off the track and hated each other even more on it. These duos gave us some of the greatest races, results and controversies of all time. Now is the time for two of Formula 1’s current greats to take this sport to the next level. Who better would that be than Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso?
Many thought 2007 was the next coming of the Senna-Prost rivalry with a young Lewis Hamilton who never backed down to his entitled, two-time champion teammate, Fernando Alonso. Although there was clearly bad blood between the two, this heat unfortunately only lasted for that single season. In 2008 and 2009 Alonso got back together with his ex-girlfriend, Renault, the girlfriend he won the 2005 and 2006 Driver’s and Constructor’s titles with, this time in a car that could not challenge for the championship or even many wins. Turn the page ahead to 2010 - Fernando Alonso is at the greatest, most storied Formula 1 team of all time, Ferrari, and a young star in the making, Sebastian Vettel is behind the wheel of a car designed by the greatest motorsports mind of all time, Adrian Newey. 2010 has been epic and Alonso leads the championship by fifteen points going into the final race at Abu Dhabi, but Vettel and Red Bull come through when it counts. Alonso was left sitting in the back of his garage, sweaty, shocked and depressed about the championship slipping through his fingers to this young, cocky, and sometimes reckless kid, who couldn’t even grow facial hair. A nineteen point swing in the championship claims a victim in Alonso and also rewrites the record books by crowing the youngest champion of all time, a record Fernando Alonso once held.
When 2011 comes, Alonso and Ferrari vow to not let 2010 happen again. Turns out, they never even had a chance. Again, the scrappy, young German and Red Bull would dominate the Formula 1 season with fifteen poles and eleven wins in nineteen races, claiming the title in Japan with four races remaining on the calendar. Alonso, who won only one race in the season, was left looking on, a distant 4th place in the championship. When 2012 comes around, the Ferrari F2012 is clearly off the pace (roughly 1.5 seconds), but with some miraculous driving, Fernando Alonso finds himself with a forty point lead going into the summer break of the season. Nine races remain, and it looks like Alonso will finally get his coveted 3rd championship, matching Senna’s mark. However with some bad luck at Spa, Vettel is able to grab second place at a circuit suited for the Ferrari, reducing Alonso’s lead. Vettel wins in Singapore and then hunt is truly on. Bad luck hits Alonso again in Japan, and from there all he can do is watch the young German yet again take his championship.
Fernando Alonso is not one that needs motivation to perform at his absolute best. Really all he needs is a car with four tires and a steering wheel. On the other hand, when two of the last three championships have been won by the same Red Bull driver at the final race of the season – stolen from you in 2010 and nearly gifted to you in 2012 – the thirst for revenge builds within the driver and team. At the same time, Red Bull is laughing at the mighty Scuderia, keeping confidence within the team and building on their successes to keep the Prancing Horse tamed in the stable. The stage is set for an epic rivalry – red vs. blue, dollar vs. dollar, young vs. veteran, always on the limit vs. mathematical precision. It’s time to crush each other on and off the tarmac. We might have seen a glimpse of this in Italy as Alonso went for a pass on the outside of Vettel and the German forced him onto the grass and dirt outside of the Lesmo, but now is the time for the second coming of the Senna-Prost relationship.
Formula 1’s greatest days were fueled by fiery battles between great drivers who respected, but disliked each other. These battles between Lauda/Hunt, Mansell/Piquet, Senna/Prost and Schumacher/Hakkinen have made F1 what is it today and created legends of the sport. These greats disliked each other off the track and hated each other even more on it. These duos gave us some of the greatest races, results and controversies of all time. Now is the time for two of Formula 1’s current greats to take this sport to the next level. Who better would that be than Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso?
Many thought 2007 was the next coming of the Senna-Prost rivalry with a young Lewis Hamilton who never backed down to his entitled, two-time champion teammate, Fernando Alonso. Although there was clearly bad blood between the two, this heat unfortunately only lasted for that single season. In 2008 and 2009 Alonso got back together with his ex-girlfriend, Renault, the girlfriend he won the 2005 and 2006 Driver’s and Constructor’s titles with, this time in a car that could not challenge for the championship or even many wins. Turn the page ahead to 2010 - Fernando Alonso is at the greatest, most storied Formula 1 team of all time, Ferrari, and a young star in the making, Sebastian Vettel is behind the wheel of a car designed by the greatest motorsports mind of all time, Adrian Newey. 2010 has been epic and Alonso leads the championship by fifteen points going into the final race at Abu Dhabi, but Vettel and Red Bull come through when it counts. Alonso was left sitting in the back of his garage, sweaty, shocked and depressed about the championship slipping through his fingers to this young, cocky, and sometimes reckless kid, who couldn’t even grow facial hair. A nineteen point swing in the championship claims a victim in Alonso and also rewrites the record books by crowing the youngest champion of all time, a record Fernando Alonso once held.
When 2011 comes, Alonso and Ferrari vow to not let 2010 happen again. Turns out, they never even had a chance. Again, the scrappy, young German and Red Bull would dominate the Formula 1 season with fifteen poles and eleven wins in nineteen races, claiming the title in Japan with four races remaining on the calendar. Alonso, who won only one race in the season, was left looking on, a distant 4th place in the championship. When 2012 comes around, the Ferrari F2012 is clearly off the pace (roughly 1.5 seconds), but with some miraculous driving, Fernando Alonso finds himself with a forty point lead going into the summer break of the season. Nine races remain, and it looks like Alonso will finally get his coveted 3rd championship, matching Senna’s mark. However with some bad luck at Spa, Vettel is able to grab second place at a circuit suited for the Ferrari, reducing Alonso’s lead. Vettel wins in Singapore and then hunt is truly on. Bad luck hits Alonso again in Japan, and from there all he can do is watch the young German yet again take his championship.
Fernando Alonso is not one that needs motivation to perform at his absolute best. Really all he needs is a car with four tires and a steering wheel. On the other hand, when two of the last three championships have been won by the same Red Bull driver at the final race of the season – stolen from you in 2010 and nearly gifted to you in 2012 – the thirst for revenge builds within the driver and team. At the same time, Red Bull is laughing at the mighty Scuderia, keeping confidence within the team and building on their successes to keep the Prancing Horse tamed in the stable. The stage is set for an epic rivalry – red vs. blue, dollar vs. dollar, young vs. veteran, always on the limit vs. mathematical precision. It’s time to crush each other on and off the tarmac. We might have seen a glimpse of this in Italy as Alonso went for a pass on the outside of Vettel and the German forced him onto the grass and dirt outside of the Lesmo, but now is the time for the second coming of the Senna-Prost relationship.