Alonso or Vettel?

Who do you think will win this seasons championship, Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel? With only three races (Abu Dhabi, United States and Brazil) to go, the championship battle heats up between these two rivals. At third position is Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen who stands at 173 points, virtually putting him out of contention for this season’s championship. Even though Vettel (240 points) has a 13 point advantage over Alonso (227 points), Alonso won’t give up easily. Being an Alonso fan, I know that he can push to any extent. At 25, Vettel could become the youngest driver to win the title three in a row.

Season by season performances

2010

Vettel’s first ever championship came in this season, thereby making him the youngest to do so. Bahrain was the first race of this season, where Alonso finished first and Vettel fourth. At the next race in Australia, Vettel failed to complete the race whereas Alonso finished fourth, thereby giving him an early advantage in the championship. Ironically, at the next race in Malaysia, it was Alonso who retired and Vettel went on to win that race. Then came the Chinese GP, where Vettel finished a disappointing 6^th and Alonso a satisfactory 4^th. At the Spanish GP, Alonso finished 2^nd followed by Vettel at 3^rd. At the next race in Monaco, Vettel came 2^nd and Alonso 6^th. The Turkish GP wasn’t a good race for either of the two with Alonso finishing 8^th and Vettel was forced into retirement. Then came the Canadian GP, which was comparatively better for the both of them with Vettel finishing 4^th and Alonso 3^rd. Then at the next race in Spain, Vettel finished as the winner and Alonso a disappointing 8^th. At Britain, Vettel finished 7^th and Alonso retired. This was the half-way point of the season. Vettel accumulated 121 points and Alonso had 98.

Going over to the 2^nd half of the season, it was the German GP first up where Alonso won that race and Vettel came 3^rd. Moving on to the Hungarian GP, Alonso finished 2^nd and Vettel made the podium too with a 3^rd. The Belgian GP turned out to be a disaster for both of them as they both crashed out making it a not so good weekend for the Ferraris and the Redbulls. Alonso won the next three of the four races in Italy, Singapore and Korea giving him the lead over Vettel in the championship. In this period, Vettel could win only the Japanese GP where Alonso finished 3^rd. Moving on to the last two races at Brazil and Abu Dhabi, Alonso was the clear leader with 231 points. Vettel on the other hand had only 206. At this point, Alonso was looking the favourite to win the title, but Vettel then came to his very best winning both the remaining races. Even if Alonso would’ve finished at the podium in both the races, the title would have been his. But he finished 4^th at the Brazilian GP and an unbelievable 7^th at the final race in Abu Dhabi.

2011

This season, it was Vettel who dominated from the word go, missing out on a podium finish only in Germany. The competition was only between Alonso, Button, Webber and Hamilton for 2^nd place. Vettel won the title with six races still to go, finishing the season with a whopping 392 points. 2^nd placed Jenson Button was at a distant 270 points.

2012

Finally, coming to the current season we now have only two contenders for the championship title. This was the first time in the history of the Formula 1 which saw 7 different winners in as many races at the start of the season, thereby throwing the title bid wide open. Button got the 1^st one at Australia. Alonso bagging the second in a rain-affected Malaysian GP. Rosberg with the 3^rd race in China. Vettel with the 4^th in Bahrain. Pastor Maldonado was the surprise winner in the 5^th leg in Barcelona, Spain. Webber with the 6^th in Monaco and Hamilton with the 7^th in the Canadian GP. This deadlock was finally broken by Alonso who won the 8^th race at the European GP in Valencia, Spain thereby giving him his 2^nd victory of the season. This was the start of Alonso’s success finishing 2^nd in the British GP, 1^st in Germany, 5^th in Hungary, 3^rd in Italy. His only retirement came at Belgium which was before the Italian GP. Vettel’s figures in these 4 races read 3^rd, 2^nd, 4^th & 22^nd. At Belgium, Vettel finished 2^nd (the race Alonso retired in). Besides all this the man to watch this season has been Romain Grosjean, better known as ‘a first lap nut-case’ by Mark Webber. He has had to retire in one-third of his races so far, mainly because of his reckless driving, which led to him being banned for the Japanese GP in Suzuka. Experts said that the ban was too harsh on Grosjean and this is how one should be driving in F1 to make the sport more exciting. They also added that Grosjean could be a world champion soon as he has impressed in his early days of F1 as a rookie. Coming back to Vettel now, he has won his last four races namely at Singapore, Japan, Korea and India which has given him a good lead over 2^nd placed Alonso who is 13 points behind at 227.

The focus now moves on to the final three races of the season at Abu Dhabi, United States and Brazil. Vettel has had a good past at Abu Dhabi, winning in 2009 and 2010 but had to retire early in the 2011 leg of the race due to a puncture. On the other hand, Alonso’s figures read as 14^th, 7^th and 2^nd in his past three season performances at Abu Dhabi. The race after that is at the United States, a circuit newly introduced this season, so no one really has an idea about how everyone will fare in the North American circuit. The final race will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 2009, Alonso had to retire because of an accident, Vettel ended up 4^th. In 2010, Vettel won the Brazilian GP followed by Webber at 2^nd and Alonso at 3^rd. At the last race there, Vettel finished 2^nd and Alonso 4^th.

If Vettel wins the next leg at Abu Dhabi, he pretty much should go on to win. But race tracks like Abu Dhabi suit Alonso’s style of racing. So we’ll have to just wait and watch as the season reaches it’s final month, which will see us bid farewell to the legendary Michael Schumacher.