Jolyon Palmer says Fernando Alonso has come closer to ‘perfection’ in F1 than Lewis Hamilton

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Jolyon Palmer says Fernando Alonso achieved the highest level ever seen in Formula 1 during his spell at Ferrari. Alonso raced for the Scuderia between 2010 and 2014.

The Spaniard didn’t win a title in that period but he did come agonisingly close on two occasions – 2010 and 2012. Both times, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull prevailed at the season finale.

Alonso impressively scored a podium in 44 of his 96 appearances for the team, a rate of 45.8%. He notched 11 victories despite only taking four pole positions.

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Jolyon Palmer raves about Ferrari-era Fernando Alonso

On the F1 Nation podcast, Palmer was asked which driver had come closest to achieving ‘perfection’ in the sport. He overlooked seven-time world champions Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, as well as Max Verstappen.

Palmer says Alonso was the complete package in that period, particularly in the 2012 season. Teammate Felipe Massa finished seventh in the standings that year, underlining the limitations of the Ferrari car.

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Had Alonso beaten Vettel – he ultimately finished just three points behind – it would arguably have been the greatest championship win in F1 history. It still ranks as one of the most impressive seasons.

“Fernando Alonso in those Ferrari years is, for me, the closest we’ve had to perfection, especially 2012 when he nearly won the title,” said Palmer. “That was when I thought, ‘He is ticking all of these boxes’, the consistency as well.

“In that window at Ferrari, that is such a brilliant all-round picture of a Formula 1 driver, I think.

‘It’s like he could see the future’ – Fernando Alonso’s remarkable racecraft

Alonso left Ferrari after a winless 2014 season and returned to McLaren, a move that proved to be a mistake.

Ferrari successor Sebastian Vettel emerged as a challenger to Mercedes’ dominance, while McLaren became stuck in the lower midfield with their underpowered Honda engine.

Former Renault driver Palmer raced against Alonso in 2016 and 2017 and was ‘taught a lesson’ by his racecraft.

“It’s like he could see the future sometimes,” Palmer recalled. “He reads racecraft so well that he says, ‘I’m going to brake here, if you brake later than me, fair play, but you won’t turn the corner from there, so this is where I’m going to position it, and this will see me come out of the corner ahead.’

• READ MORE: Nelson Piquet Jr thinks Lewis Hamilton does not have the same ‘passion’ as Fernando Alonso

“It’s the same when you look at his race starts. He will position his car so often just in the perfect spot. He’ll cover off the inside, he’ll know anyone that brakes later than that will go in deep, he’ll be avoiding the collision that will inevitably happen there. He just has this foresight into racing.

“I was racing him in the McLaren-Honda days, and he was a cut above, honestly. I’ve prided myself on my racecraft coming through GP2 and I thought I was not bad, but you’d race him, and I was taught a lesson or two a few times.”

Alonso is the only driver in F1 history to reach 400 race starts. While Hamilton will hit that mark later this season, the Aston Martin man continues to extend his record in the meantime.