Fernando Alonso: The Eternal Competitor

Alonso has one of the most remarkable careers in F1 history - 23 seasons across 6 different constructors. Let me visualize his points trajectory by team.

You can see three distinct peaks: the Renault championship years (2005-2006), his Ferrari tenure (2010-2014) where he came agonizingly close to more titles, and then his recent Aston Martin resurgence in 2023. The gap in 2019-2020 was his sabbatical from F1.

Here's the breakdown by constructor:

Ferrari dominates with 1,190 points - but remember, he never won a championship there. Renault sits at 468 points, yet that's where both his titles came from. The points system changed significantly over the years, so raw totals favor the later teams.

The McLaren-Honda partnership from 2015-2018 is one of F1's most infamous failures. A two-time world champion averaging just 33 points per season.

The red section shows the damage. Engine failures, lack of power, constant breakdowns. Alonso famously said 'GP2 engine!' on team radio during the 2015 Japanese GP. He scored just 11 points that entire year - fewer than some drivers get in a single race today.

32 Grand Prix victories, distributed across just three teams:

Over half came with Renault (17 wins), including his championship-winning seasons. Ferrari gave him 11 wins despite never delivering a title. McLaren contributed 4 wins - all from his controversial 2007 season alongside rookie Lewis Hamilton. Since returning in 2021, he hasn't won a race.

This is where the story gets painful. Here's cumulative wins over time for Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, and Raikkonen:

Alonso led the pack until around 2010. He was on track to be the greatest of all time. Then his line flatlines after 2013 - no wins since. Meanwhile Hamilton's trajectory explodes during the Mercedes dominance era. Vettel's Red Bull years (2010-2013) show rapid accumulation before he too plateaus. The difference? Team choices. Hamilton joined Mercedes just before they became dominant. Alonso joined McLaren just before Honda's engine program collapsed. Had their positions been reversed, history might look very different.