Fernando Alonso Twists Fate, Triumphs in Valencia

Raikkonen, Alonso, Schumacher

In a race weekend that looked to be every bit the disaster judging from the qualifying results, the European GP turned out to be the best that I have seem in recent memory!

QUALIFYING DISASTER

With both the Ferraris out for the third qualifying session, things looked bleak. Luca de Montezzemolo could be seen shaking his head from the garage as his boys were booted out.

Vettel claimed pole and although I have no real issues with Vettel, it just seems to me like he always just wins when he starts from the top of the pile thanks to some secret qualifying Formula that Red Bull have discovered.

So the grid looked pretty bad as far as my affiliations go.

1. Vettel

2. Hamilton

3. Maldonado

4. Grosjean

5. Raikkonen

6. Rosberg

7. Kobayashi

8. Hulkenberg

9. Button

10. di Resta

11. Alonso

12. Schumacher

13. Massa

A dream come true

TEAM DYNAMICS

Yeah so Grosjean has outqualified Kimi like he has done a number of times this season but Kimi always seems to be able to pull out the better results. Massa is as usual, a dead weight in the Ferrari camp. It's really starting to make me wonder what kind of secrets he's keeping for the team in exchange for keeping his seat.

Schumacher, the man that I have been following for nearly two decades, is down in 12th. It breaks my heart to see such an icon being made to languish in a mediocre team for what should have been his last hurrah after the glory days. Nico Rosberg, his teammate always seems to edge him out. When Schumi gets ahead, some crazy misfortune like a blown tire or a collision befalls him.

TABLES TURNED

Alonso gets emotional

The results of the race however, offer complete redemption. After a grueling and action packed GP, Fernando Alonso ended up in front when the chequered flag came out to the delight of the hoards of Spanish fans.

Vettel enjoyed a large lead out in front for the first half of the race until Vergne had a collision with Kovalainen and this prompted a safety car period effectively erasing any advantage that Vettel might have had.

By this time, Alonso had worked his way up the field. Yes. he worked his way up the field from 11th!!! Behind him were Grosjean folowed by Hamilton and the fast charging Raikkonen.

The Lotus cars have been so much better at taking care of their tires and soon enough, Raikkonen was able to kick some dust in Hamilton's face.

EARLY CHRISTMAS

Everything seemed to be settling down with the final race order with less than ten laps to go but when the safety car came in, Vettel suddenly had engine trouble and his car unexpectedly slowed down gifting Alonso with the race lead.

Then, Grosjean suddenly stalled and fuond himself out of the race as well, continuing his streak of bad luck rivaled only by Schumacher's.

This time however, it was Schumacher who finally got all the good karma. With Raikkonen now in second after the disappearance of Vettel and Grosjean, Lewis Hamilton had to defend his podium spot against Pastor Maldonado who quickly clipped Lewis and sent him to the wall taking both of them out.

Mark Webber also started to drop his speed in the last stages of the race and fell behind guess who? Schumacher.

DREAM ENDING

Triumphant Alonso

Schumi wasn't even aware that he made it on the podium when he crossed the line. One minute he was at the tail end of the points and the next thing you know, all kinds of incidents occurred to push him the rest of the way up to third. This of course, is only after he had a superb race fighting in the middle of the pack and overtaking left and right to get to the prime position to receive all the blessings which were the aftermath of various DNFs and collisions.

The drama didn't end there however as Alonso's car gave out in front of two jam-packed grandstands filled with Spanish fans.

He spent several minutes working up the crowd and posing with marshals while he waited for the medical car to pick him up.

The podium has never looked so good for me. My three favorite drivers all on the podium.

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Kimi Raikkonen
3. Michael Schumacher

Only Alonso has so far been able to win two races this season. He is back on top of the standings and is dead set on winning a championship with Ferrari making it  trio of Ferrari champions on this podium. Incidentally, Michael won his championships with Benetton Ford/Renault (1994,1995) and Ferrari (2000-2004) while Kimi won his lone championship with Ferrari in 2007 but he currently drives for Lotus Renault. Fernando on the other hand, won his back to back championships with Renault (2005, 2006) and currently drives for Ferrari. It's one big happy Ferrari-Renault family!

Felicidades Alo!