Fernando Alonso’s F1 Return Like Schumacher’s Failed Comeback, Fears Coulthard

Once Fernando Alonso announced his return to F1 with Alpine Renault, a lot of expectations were put on the Spaniard’s shoulder, not to forget the amount of confidence the two-time world champion carried with himself ahead of the 2021 F1 season.

However, that impression started diminishing as Alonso marched his way into the pre-season testing. What’s more, the spark is nowhere to be seen since the start of the season.

While it looked like he might regain his touch at least by the race weekend in Imola, that prediction ended in disappointment. A couple more races have gone by since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and Alonso is yet to bring himself into the spotlight.

Of course, one might assume that it is probably the car. But the Frenchman, Esteban Ocon, proved such assumptions wrong with a stellar couple of outings in Portugal and Barcelona.

Hence, former F1 driver, David Coulthard, is quite concerned about the hideous start from the Spaniard. Furthermore, he reckoned that fear is creeping into everyone, as Alonso’s slow start is resembling another world champion’s F1 returning season.

Former F1 driver’s concerns over the poor form of Alonso

During a podcast, Coulthard opined that Alonso’s comeback season is looking more like Michael Schumacher‘s 2010 F1 season with Mercedes.

The seven-time world champion made his return to F1 in 2010 after a brief one-year halt from racing. However, his three seasons with Mercedes turned out to be rather chaotic; the German experienced nothing but struggles.

Consequently, Schumacher forced himself into announcing his permanent retirement from F1 and other forms of racing too by 2013.

“I just wanna pick up from here about Fernando. And again, I absolutely agree with it,” Coulthard said during the ‘On the Marbles‘ podcast. “It can only be a matter of time. Or can it?

“Because I know I’m actually getting a little bit concerned that maybe what we’re witnessing as we did with Michael when he came back after a period off the sport. When you go off the boil, it’s quite difficult to get back into that scenario.”

As of now, Alonso is hanging on to P12, having secured just five points as opposed to his teammate’s 10. Hence, the numbers evidently suggest that this isn’t the Alonso the fans were earnestly looking forward to.

So, will the Spaniard continue to disappoint over the upcoming race weekends? Or can he somehow revive his aggressive form by as early as the approaching Monaco Grand Prix? Only time will tell.