F1 Throwback: Fernando Alonso Fends off a Charging Michael Schumacher to End Ferrari Dominance at Imola

With the return of 2-time World Champion, Fernando Alonso, to Renault next season, we take a look at one of his most intense battles in F1, driving for the French team.

The 2005 F1 season was when Michael Schumacher was overthrown after 5 long years by Alonso.

Although it was Kimi Raikkonen who came the closest to challenging Alonso for the title that year, we can’t ignore the battle between the incumbent world champion and the future one in San Marino that year.

It was only the fourth race of the season, but boy was it an absolute nail-biter.

The race started off with Raikkonen leading the pack until the 8th lap. But unfortunately for the Finn, he had to retire thereafter, running into some problems with his driveshaft.

From then on, it was the Spaniard who dominated for the most part of the race.

However, if he was expecting anyone to challenge him for the victory at San Marino, it certainly wouldn’t have been Schumacher. The German had started the race in 13th place but flew up the grid to duel with Alonso.

Gosh darn, it was one hell of a duel. After the second round of pit stops, Michael came back on track, merely a few seconds behind Alonso.

At that point, there were still 12 laps to go, surely you would expect a 7-time world champion to emerge victorious right?  Except, that’s where you would be wrong.

The Spaniard was not having any of it. Holding Schumi back is no easy task, but Alonso was up for it. Fernando put on a defensive masterclass against the most successful F1 driver of all time.

He didn’t allow the German legend a sniff, by shutting all doors on the corners and keeping a solid racing line. The end result of that brilliant drive was a highly treasured win at the San Marino Grand Prix.

What did Fernando Alonso make of that performance?

Speaking to the media after his epic drive, Alonso said, “Always was hoping for the win. After Kimi retired I had only one picture for the race, that I was winning the race. So I was ready to fight, ready to fight for the last laps.

“I really wanted the victory here.”

The win at San Marino was Alonso’s third win of the calendar year at the time. He had also stood atop the podium in Malaysia and Bahrain previously. After this race, the Spaniard won another 4 races over the course of the season.

He ended the campaign as a world champion, a feat that he would go on to repeat in 2006.

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