According to Fernando Alonso, 2012 has been his greatest season in Formula 1 so far, with this season ranking third.
Alonso has completed 15 seasons in Formula 1 and the Spaniard has put in some awesome performances over the years.
So, you’d think it would be tough to come out with a definite ranking of his best season-long performances in F1.
But Alonso has done just that, and it isn’t one of his championship-winning campaigns in 2005 and 2006 with Renault.
No, he actually ranks 2012 as his best F1 season – the one where Alonso won three races and nine further podiums for Ferrari, just losing out on the title at the final hurdle.
Yep, Sebastian Vettel pipped him to the post and picked up a third consecutive title win, but it went down to the wire.
Second place in Brazil wasn’t enough, with Vettel recovering from a first lap clash to secure the championship with sixth.
The gap between the two at the end of the year? Just three points. But despite the near miss, Alonso feels it was his best season in F1, followed by his final year with Ferrari in 2014 and 2016 rounding out the podium.
“2012 is probably my best season in Formula 1,” he said. Then it could be 2014 my second best. Then probably this one [2016] will be on the final step of the podium so far. I felt very confident in the car in every condition.
“Even the last 10 laps in Brazil I felt really competitive with 40-lap old tyres, things like that. That confidence in the car gave me the opportunity to drive at the limit on many occasions. I consider this year on a very high standard from my driving part of view.”
He also took a look at how 2016 compared to his first season back at McLaren in 2015:
“I’m happy with the things that we’ve done, happy with the progress of the team as well. Twelve months ago we were disappointed, but sad, many things were going on in our heads last year. Instead this year everything is optimistic and everything is joy.
“We know there is still a long way to go to become champions, but the feeling is a lot happier than last year.”