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Eddie Jordan once claimed that Ferrari were keeping Fernando Alonso ‘prisoner’ after what he saw
Spanish Scuderia Ferrari Formula One racing team racing driver Fernando Alonso sitting in the team's pit lane, pit garage while wearing his logo ad...
Photo by Darren Heath/Getty Images

Fernando Alonso was already a two-time world champion when he joined Ferrari ahead of the 2010 season. He parted with Renault after two stints at Enstone.

Alonso immediately competed for a third title. The 2010 season became a three-way scrap with Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Alonso led the championship by eight points heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi. But he became stuck behind Vitaly Petrov – ironically, a Renault driver – on a disastrous evening, allowing race-winner Vettel to surge from third to first.

Fernando Alonso of Spain and Ferrari inspects the car of third placed Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Infiniti Red Bull Racing in parc ferme after ...
Photo by Mark Trowbridge/Getty Images

Two years later, they renewed their rivalry. This time Vettel entered the decider in Brazil with a 13-point edge, but another remarkable turnaround seemed to be in the offing after he spun on the opening lap.

Yet with a damaged car, the Red Bull driver heroically recovered to sixth. Alonso had to settle for second behind Jenson Button, which left him an agonising three points adrift.

Vettel crushed any hope of revenge the following year by winning 13 out of 19 races, including nine in a row to end the year. Alonso retained second place in the standings, but 2014 was an annus horribilis.

Fernando Alonso was a ‘prisoner’ because he couldn’t escape Ferrari

The regulation changes were an opportunity for Ferrari to end their drivers’ championship drought, which stretched back to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. F1 was moving from V8s to V6 hybrids.

But as Mercedes took over, Ferrari went backwards. They slipped to fourth in the championship, a massive 485 points off the dominant Silver Arrows.

Alonso, a driver renowned for outperforming the car, could only manage sixth in the individual standings. He scored just two podiums in 19 races.

RANK TEAM WIN POD PTS
1 Mercedes 16 31 701
2 Red Bull 3 12 405
3 Williams 0 9 320
4 Ferrari 0 2 216
5 McLaren 0 2 181
The 2014 F1 standings

He failed to finish Ferrari’s home race in Monza, pulling over to the side of the track after an energy recovery system failure. Speaking afterwards, BBC Sport pundit Eddie Jordan said Alonso was a ‘prisoner’ at Maranello.

This was because, despite his CV, he had no hope of securing a better drive. Nico Rosberg was establishing himself as a star alongside Lewis Hamilton, as was Daniel Ricciardo next to four-time champion Vettel at Red Bull.

Williams finished above Ferrari that year, but there was no guarantee their competitiveness would last. In the end, Alonso took a gamble by returning to McLaren ahead of their reunion with Honda, and it backfired spectacularly.

Only Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher possess this ‘otherwordly’ F1 skill

With hindsight, Alonso perhaps should have kept faith in Ferrari. His replacement Vettel was able to win three races in 2015, and compete for the title a couple of years later.

Meanwhile, the Spaniard fought for – at best – the lower points places in a McLaren car that had a ‘GP2 engine’, in his own words. Alonso had been frustrated that Ferrari axed Felipe Massa to bring in fellow world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley says Alonso possessed the same ‘otherwordly’ feel as Michael Schumacher. He was left marvelling at their ‘hand-feet coordination’ after studying the data.

Alonso’s talents are arguably deserving of at least one more world championship. But he hasn’t been able to position himself in the right team at the right time.

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