Alonso continues to look streets ahead with victory in Germany

Sports Journalist

Monday 23 July 2012

If only everything in life was as reliable as Fernando Alonso.

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Neil Drysdale

Elsewhere, around the pit at the German Grand Prix, Hockenheim was a hotbed of intrigue, verbal spats between competitors, and official investigations into whether Red Bull were guilty of "engine mapping". They weren't, but, oblivious to any distractions, Alonso dominated Saturday's qualifying session, surged to pole, zoomed out of the blocks, and duly wrapped up another GP victory, which has allowed him to establish a 34-point gap over nearest challenger, Mark Webber.

Many questions remain to be resolved in the 2012 campaign, but increasingly it appears that the Spaniard is on course to secure his third world title. That achievement will be doubly impressive, because so few had given Ferrari a prayer on the strength of their fraught winter testing and sluggish early performances.Yet, both through a combination of his own technical expertise and his team's precision on and off the track – allied to the gaffes and glitches of his principal adversaries – Alonso has seized the initiative with a mixture of the panache and pragmatism for which he is renowned. There was nothing flashy about yesterday's triumph – most of the drama involving Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button, with the German later penalised for an illegal manoeuvre, Button promoted to second as a result. However, Alonso has never been interested in trash talk or phoney platitudes and his relentless single-mindedness is reaping a rich dividend."I don't really know politics, but it is true that the [economic] situation is not great in Spain," said Alonso, in terms which suggested that be will not be pursuing Robert Peston's job anytime soon. "But a Spanish driver, in an Italian car, designed by a Greek, is good. Starting on pole was the key factor, because it was difficult to overtake and, while we were not the fastest, we kept our position."Granted, his ambitions have definitely been assisted by the trials and tribulations of those among the chasing pack. Button finished on the podium, but, in reality, his championship aspirations have already vanished. Lewis Hamilton, who was participating in his 100th Grand Prix, experienced an altogether more sobering afternoon, with the McLaren driver suffering a puncture before he was eventually forced to make his second retirement in the last three races. And while Hamilton was defiant afterwards, he is now more than 60 points adrift of Alonso. That is a massive gap to grapple with, and especially when one considers how consistently the Ferrari driver has amassed prizes, plaudits and podiums in comparison with his opponents.That quality, and ability to extract the maximum from his labours, has established a supremacy for Alonso, which will not be easily challenged. Indeed, as David Coulthard pointed out when discussing the reasons behind his recent dominance: "I don't think that he has made a mistake all year. He is in a happy place now and driving very well."In contrast, Paul Di Resta is enduring a difficult summer, which has removed some of the gloss from his spring offensive. The Force India driver could do no better than 11th, which was not merely a fresh frustration for the 26-year-old, but was two places behind his team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, and, perhaps more worryingly, for his prospects of gaining a high-profile move to the likes of Mercedes or even Ferrari. Di Resta was also significantly slower than the twin Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, who enhanced their growing reputations by ending in fifth and sixth respectively."I really struggled, certainly at the beginning, so we will go away from here to do a bit of work and aim to do better," said Di Resta. "It was about how much speed your car had and we got better as it went on. I set my fastest lap in the last lap. Hopefully, in Hungary, we will be able to get on top of things better."Ultimately, though, he is fighting for mid-table respectability with an eye on the future. Alonso has a grander vision and looks as if he has created a platform to succeed.

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Alonso continues to look streets ahead with victory in Germany

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