Can Alonso Join Vettel, Raikkonen, Hamilton & Schumacher in This Elusive F1 Club?

Fernando Alonso is a two-time world champion in Formula One. We know him for his ferocious and uncompromising driving style and his amazing skills in a wheel-to-wheel battle. In his time in the sport, the Spanish driver has etched his name in the sport’s history.

He is the second most experienced driver behind Kimi Räikkönen in terms of the race starts. He has also won 32 races and stood on 97 podiums.

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Can Fernando Alonso reach 100 podium finishes in F1?

According to Autoweek, the last time the Alpine driver stood on a podium was in Hungary in 2014. Since then, he has come close several times, only to just miss out on the celebrations. If he does get to the century of podiums, it would make him only the sixth driver to achieve this feat.

There are only five drivers who have achieved this feat in the history of the sport, and yes, you guessed it, #1 and #2 on the list are British and German drivers, respectively.

1. Lewis Hamilton – 176
2. Michael Schumacher – 155
3. Sebastian Vettel – 122
4. Alain Prost – 106
5. Kimi Raikkonen – 103

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The Alpine driver rues his missed podium opportunity in Sochi

Alonso has come close to finishing on the podium this season too. He finished in P5 in Hungary, Netherlands, and in P6 in Russia. The P6 in Sochi was surely a missed opportunity as he gambled on the wrong tires in the dying stages of the race.

“We finished sixth, but I think third place is more of a true reflection of our finishing position today,” said Alonso, as reported by PlanetF1.

“It all came down to luck in the end, with the rain coming so late on. It was like a flip of a coin. Some cars stopped one lap earlier and I was in the third position when it really started to rain and It was impossible to predict.

“Nevertheless, sixth is a good result for us and we deserved it. We looked competitive throughout the race, so there are lots of positives to take away,” said Fernando.

Currently, Alonso is the highest driver in the drivers’ standings without a podium in the 2021 season. The Spanish legend would dearly love to change this stat in the coming races.