Fernando Alonso - the man who fought for the championship down to the very last race of the 2010 season despite a difficult start is nowhere to be found this year.
While the world has been criticising the driving of Lewis Hamilton and noting that Mark Webber has lost his passion, nobody has paid attention to the fading Alonso.
Already 99 points behind the leader Sebastian Vettel, the Spaniard was among the first to admit that the title race is over. This time last year his position was hardly better, yet he assured everyone he could still win it. Perhaps it was this self assurance which landed him a couple of race wins and pulled him back in to the picture for the title race.
Ferrari cannot complain about any reliability issues either, their season on the technical side has been going rather well in comparison to the leaders Red Bull who struggled with KERS at the beginning of the season. Alonso, to me, is one of the very few drivers who would have been able to benefit from such misfortunes on his rivals part.
Perhaps the car is not good enough, but I certainly do feel that rather than making the most from what he has, he has been too laid-back. Two podiums in the last three races suggest that the talent is still there and the car is competitive, but the desire to win is questionable.
From the eight Grand Prix's this season, in qualifying, Alonso has only made it in to the top three once and has been rather dismissive about his failures to qualify higher in the interviews. The old Alonso seems to have disappeared. There is no anger in this new Fernando, no real urge to be on top, no fiery aggression in his driving. Not what you would expect from two-time World Champion.
Credit: The F1 Times (www.thef1times.com)
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