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The Spanish GP is Fernando Alonso's home race and the Spaniard, despite not having the best machinery for a huge chunk of his career, has made it a point to always pull something out of the bag for his fans.
Ever since the Spanish driver burst onto the F1 scene, he has been showered with the love and affection of thousands of Spaniards. Not to mention, he was and still is the idol of Carlos Sainz, the other Spanish driver on the current grid that has made his way to a Ferrari seat.
The 40-year-old became a national star after he won his first world championship with Renault in 2005 and then became a global superstar after he beat Michael Schumacher to retain his title in 2006. After Michael Schumacher's retirement, Alonso made his way to Ferrari in 2010 after a brief but acrimonious stopover at McLaren.
The events surrounding the race
After narrowly losing out on the title in the final race of the 2010 season, Alonso saw his rival Sebastian Vettel grow in strength in the 2011 season. With Ferrari and McLaren unable to keep up with the Red Bull driver, Vettel had already won three of the four races by the time F1 reached Barcelona.
The reigning world champion was leading the championship by a country mile and no one had an answer to his speed. In qualifying, Red Bull dominated once again as Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel secured the front row with a time that was close to a second quicker than Lewis Hamilton's in third. Fernando Alonso qualified in P4, just ahead of Jenson Button in fifth.
Fernando Alonso's fantastic start!
While Fernando Alonso is now known for his great race starts, this was not always the case. The two-time world champion had yet to hone this skill in 2011 and not many were expecting what came next.
Fernando Alonso started on the second row alongside Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. As soon as the lights went out, Mark Webber, who did not have as good a race start, had to defend his line from Sebastian Vettel. Aware of what was happening, Alonso placed his car perfectly in the slipstream of the Red Bulls.
As a result, by the time the cars had reached Turn 1, Webber was already in his rearview mirror. Alonso, side by side with Vettel, outbraked the German to take the lead of the race.
Things went downhill after that
Despite Fernando Alonso's brilliant race start, he lost positions due to the Ferrari's slow pace.
Alonso, slowly but steadily, dropped down the order during the pit stops. First, it was Sebastian Vettel who took the race lead from Alonso. After that, Hamilton, Button, and Mark Webber were able to jump Fernando Alonso in the race during the pit stops.
The Spaniard later ended up being lapped by the race leader. Despite it being an unfortunate end to Alonso's race, he once again produced a moment of magic for his fans that had come to watch him race at the Spanish GP.
