Despite, at 41, being the oldest driver on the grid, he has proved throughout 2022 that he remains at the top of his abilities – adding the benefits of experience to the raw natural talent that he has carried through his career.
One aspect that has been especially fascinating this year has been observing the attention to detail that the Alpine driver has when it comes to finding every competitive advantage he can.
At the Austrian Grand Prix, for example, he famously spent time clearing his grid slot during Saturday’s morning free practice session – hoping his actions would give him a better start later on (unluckily it didn’t as his car failed to start before the sprint).
But that’s not the only time he has gone the extra mile to eke out an edge.
If you watched him carefully during the laps to the grid before the French Grand Prix, Alonso was alone in driving very slowly down the pit lane exit.
That lack of speed gave him the ability to turn near sharp left at the end to then clear the track and get some rubber down on the inside to Turn 1, and then the outside of Turn 2.
His mindset was that he had every intention of passing people at those locations off the start while others though the circuit would be too dirty there.
And that is exactly what happened, as he pulled off a brilliant getaway and sliced past both Lando Norris and George Russell on the bits of track he had cleaned minutes before.
Alonso confesses to taking great pleasure from these little moments being noticed, as he says it is all part of the strong competitive streak he has – in both exploiting his strengths but hoping to open up weaknesses in others.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m that type of guy,” he smiles in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com that took place before his Aston Martin move was announced.
“I need to make 100% of my thing, and I need to kill whatever strengths other people have. But this I do in everything I practice, when I play anything.
“I used to play tennis, and when I play with someone good, I would put the ball very high. Because, like this, you stop the rhythm of them because they are used to hitting the ball very hard.
“Playing with professionals, the ball arrives very strong for them so they are used to that kind of shot.
“But when you put the ball high, they make mistakes, because the ball arrives very soft. So I can play better tennis when putting the ball high.
“Putting the…
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