Fernando Alonso’s F1 titles have ‘more value’ than Lewis Hamilton’s because he beat Michael Schumacher

Follow us on Google Discover

Fernando Alonso has a handful of world championships fewer than Lewis Hamilton in F1, but the fact that he had Michael Schumacher to contend with may add some value to them.

After spending the first five years of the new millennium with the F1 grid in a chokehold, Michael Schumacher’s dominance with Ferrari came to an end in 2005.

A young Spaniard by the name of Fernando Alonso was handed the torch and cemented himself as one of the very best in F1 history after taking back-to-back titles with the French constructor Renault.

Whilst the Ferraris were nerfed heading into the 2005 season, they came back swinging in 2006 and Alonso had a battle on his hands with the seven-time world champion.

Aided by an ingenious mass damper solution that Renault engineers cooked up in Enstone, Alonso was able to go toe to toe with the legendary driver and emerge victorious.

• READ MORE: What Fernando Alonso did after winning F1 championships with Renault that ‘surprised’ his engineers

How many titles do you think Fernando Alonso should have won in his F1 career?

Comment below!

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Fernando Alonso said that Michael Schumacher’s presence added ‘more value’ to his F1 titles in 2006

The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix served as Schumacher’s final race for Ferrari, and was expected to be his final ever F1 race due to the fact that his return with Mercedes in 2010 was still several years away.

The Grand Prix also served as a title showdown between Alonso and Schumacher. The Spaniard led the Ferrari legend in the standings by 10 points upon his arrival in Sao Paulo, needing just one point in order to secure the championship for himself.

Unfortunately for the German driver, Alonso took the chequered flag in second place, thus becoming a two-time world champion, while Schumacher fittingly came home in fifth, the same number of titles he had won in red.

During the post-race press conference, Alonso was asked to share what it meant for him to race against Schumacher during his golden era and share some exciting title fights in the process.

The Spaniard replied, “Yeah, it has been very close. I think it was good to fight with him.

“I’ve always said that to become champion when Michael is still on the track has maybe more value than when he retired, and I was extremely lucky to win the last two championships that he raced in.

“I think we, all the drivers, wish him the best of luck for his new life with family. It has been, for us, a pleasure to race against him.”

• READ MORE: Why Lewis Hamilton was blocked from making F1 debut in 2006 by Ron Dennis after Juan Pablo Montoya quit McLaren

Lewis Hamilton has never had to battle against one of the top five F1 drivers of all time for a championship

Beating a seven-time champion during the peak of his career requires a level of grit that defines a legacy, like how Max Verstappen dethroned Lewis Hamilton in 2021.

In contrast to Alonso, the British driver’s title feats often came against less formidable opponents.

While he did face some talented drivers like Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa, neither occupy the same historic ranking as a prime Schumacher does.

Critics argue that Hamilton’s dominance was largely a product of Mercedes’ superior machinery.

He frequently lacked a cross-team rival capable of pushing him to the absolute limit, making several of his seven titles feel somewhat inevitable.

Alonso’s 2006 triumph, specifically, stands as a masterclass in psychological warfare. He defended against the greatest winner the sport had ever seen, proving he could beat the very best without so much of an advantage in machinery.