Fernando Alonso’s first season with Ferrari delivered all the brilliance – and controversy – we’d always expected when arguably the finest all-round driver of the era got together with Formula 1’s most famous team.
It kicked off beautifully with victory in the Bahrain opener, then all started to go horribly wrong before Alonso surged from a seemingly hopeless position back into the championship lead, enraging a sizeable number of fans by benefiting from technically illegal team orders along the way.
In the end, Red Bull was just too quick to stop, and a strategic error in the decider saw Alonso pipped at the post by Sebastian Vettel.
But it was still a successful year for Alonso – who thrust himself firmly back into the thick of the F1 story after a few years in the wilderness, reminded the world he’s still a brilliant driver, and set himself up for many more title battles to come in his new team.
F1 career log
The future champion entered F1 at the underprivileged end of the pit lane in 2001, driving for a Minardi team that had been on the brink of folding two months earlier.
Its hastily-built chassis should have been slowest by far, yet Alonso dragged it to the brink of the top 10 on occasion.
Renault boss Flavio Briatore was searching for a ‘new Schumacher’ – a burgeoning superstar to build his revitalised team around.
Alonso ticked all the right boxes.
After an educational year as Renault’s test driver, he made an explosive return to racing in 2003.
His first pole and podium came in Malaysia, then he lapped Michael Schumacher on the way to his maiden win in Hungary.
A less impressive 2004 proved to be just a blip, as Alonso swept all before him in 2005.
Renault hit the ground running, and Alonso took three straight wins early on.
By mid-season Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren was often the fastest package, but Alonso pounced whenever the fragile McLaren faltered, and duly became the youngest ever world champion.
Alonso then stunned F1 by announcing he would leave for McLaren after one more season with Renault.
But he gave Renault the perfect farewell present in the form of a second consecutive title, dominating the opening rounds and then doggedly clinging on as Schumacher and Ferrari got ever stronger in the summer.
McLaren and Alonso both had very high hopes when they joined forces in 2007.
It didn’t take long for things to go awry, though.
Spooked by both team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s speed and particularly the young Brit’s almost familial relationship with the team, the previously unflappable Alonso made some uncharacteristic errors and demonstrated hitherto unseen petulance.
Yet even as his relationship with McLaren unravelled, he remained quick enough to come within one point of a third straight title, before both parties decided to call time on their ill-fated alliance, allowing Alonso to rejoin Renault.
The team was a shadow of its former self, and although Alonso did take two hard-fought victories in late-2008, one of these was tainted by the revelation that his team-mate Nelson Piquet had been ordered to deliberately crash to put Alonso in an advantageous position in Singapore.
By the time the scandal broke a year later, it was clear that Alonso needed a change of team to get back to the front, and the long-running rumours that he was Ferrari-bound finally became fact.
He declared that Ferrari would be his last team – not because he was contemplating imminent retirement, but because he intended the partnership to be so successful that he’d never need to look elsewhere again.
2010’s title near-miss suggests he might get his wish.
Formative years
A karting ace in his teens, Alonso did not dally for long in the junior formulae.
He won the Spanish-based Formula Nissan series in 1999 and then got straight among the experienced drivers in Formula 3000 – ending his debut season with a crushing victory at Spa.
Alonso would have been a clear favourite for the 2001 title, but by that time he had already tested impressively for Minardi and F1 beckoned instead.
Strengths: Ferocious determination, incredible on-the-limit consistency, extraordinarily bold in his overtaking and can be mind-blowing in the wet on occasion.
Weaknesses: Temperament has been suspect since his McLaren implosion – and if he’s not comfortable in the team he can be a shadow of his true greatness.
Most likely to: Deliberately court controversy but gain his critics’ respect with on-track excellence.
Career highlight: Ending the Schumacher era by winning 2005 title.
Lowest ebb: Struggling to get near the podium near end of second Renault stint.
Goals for 2011: Win a third world championship.