Fernando Alonso not only secured a podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend, but also broke an old record set by Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher.
Formula 1 veteran Fernando Alonso made history on Sunday. With his second place in the chaos race in Zandvoort, the 42-year-old snatched an old record from Michael Schumacher.
With his seventh podium this season in the Aston Martin, Alonso is now the driver with the longest time between two podiums. Alonso got his first podium in 2003 at the race in Malaysia. There are 20 years, 5 months and 4 days between this and the Zandvoort success of the weekend. Schumacher’s previous record was 20 years, 3 months and 2 days. The first Schumi podium was in Mexico in 1992, the last in 2012 at the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
Alonso before another record?
Alonso could soon set another record with a GP win. Then the Spaniard would also claim the longest period of time between two victories. So far this record is held by Kimi Raikkonen. There were 15 years, 6 months and 28 days between his first and last victory. If Alonso wins, it would be over 20 years (first win: August 24 at the 2003 Hungarian GP).
The Asturian is one of the surprises of the season at the Aston Martin. Especially at the beginning he was regularly on the podium. Mid-season, from Silverstone onwards, however, the form showed downwards
For a trend reversal, team boss Mike Krack had announced further updates after the summer break with the serve in the Zandvoort dune race. The team drove there with a completely new underbody – with success. Aston again showed itself to be a podium candidate, Alonso also got the fastest race lap. Alonso is currently in third place in the driver ranking with 168 points.