As Lewis Hamilton made his way through the field from his first lap puncture, many of his overtakes were completely unspectacular DRS passes as driver after driver pretty much let him go rather than lose time trying to hold him off.
Fernando Alonso had other ideas. He wasn’t going to give up his ninth place without a fight, and fought tooth-and-nail as he used all his skill and experience to defend. It was probably the highlight of the race, and seriously good to watch.
Fernando and Mercedes loved it too!
— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) October 29, 2017
But then, when it was over and Lewis inevitably got ahead, the excitement of the fight wore off and the main feeling left was one of sadness.
These are two of the best drivers of all-time, and yet for the last three years Fernando has been saddled in the midfield (at best) thanks to the disappointment of the McLaren-Honda package, unable to realistically fight with Hamilton, or indeed any of the front-runners.
No matter who you lay the blame with for Alonso being in this situation, you can’t argue that having one of the sports best drivers out of contention for so, so long is nothing short of an absolute travesty.
That’s why his battle with Hamilton in Mexico was so disheartening, because it showed us the sort of thing we’ve been missing for the last few seasons. Let’s hope the Renault engines can remedy that for next year.
