Why Fernando Alonso Should Win F1 Racing’s Man of the Year 2008

Every year the magazine I subscribe to, F1 Racing, has an award ceremony.  The main award up for grabs is the prestigious "man of the year" prize (as voted by the readers).  Whilst I think these awards are a great idea, I have felt a bit cheated for the last couple of years, and I fear I will feel the same way this year.

I bet you can’t guess who won man of the year in 2006? Go on try…got it in one Micheal Schumacher!  This was so obvious! It was his final year and he did have a fantastic career, but I felt that the true man of the year was the now two times World Champion, Fernando Alonso.  The Spaniard held out against the red attack in the second half of 2006 to beat the seven times world champ for the second year in a row.

Now I bet you can’t guess who won in 2007? Despite throwing away the title! You got it Lewis Hamilton (I know I’ve never heard of him either!?).  This one I actually have less to complain about.  Lewis had an amazing debut season and I think he made as many fans in 2007 as he seemed to lose in 2008.  I can’t think of any driver who deserved the title more in '07 and although I think it was largely his fault that he didn’t win, it was only his first season for God’s sake!

So 2006 and 2007 aside, I can safely predict that 2008’s man of the year will again be Lewis.  I don’t think he deserves it this year despite winning the title.  Some may say they want Kubica, some Vettel, some may even argue it should be Rubens (if 2008 was his final year).  As for me, it has to be the legend that is Fernando Alonso.

I must admit bias; he is one of my two F1 heroes and to my mind, he is undoubtedly one of the greatest F1 drivers ever.  So I will now try and convince you that Nando should win the prize the drivers care the most about…Man of the year.

1) I think this is one of the most important reasons; Fernando has true courage.  From driving a World Championship winning car in 2005, '06, and '07 Fernando found himself in a poor mid-field car for 2008.  However, he didn’t let his head drop and he worked his arse off to work with the team and improve the car.  I can’t begin to imagine how hard it must have been for Alonso watching Lewis set his times every race weekend and then jumping into the R28. 

I know Fernando didn’t exactly portray himself in a positive light at McLaren, and many will argue he deserves what he gets now.  However, I would disagree, arguing that I’m not sure what goes on behind the scenes at team McLaren.  It was very interesting to see what DC had to say about his time with Ron’s Silver side.  I don’t think anything is ever black and white, and I don’t think Fernando was made very welcome by anyone.

2) Raw driving skill.  From Australia to the very last corner of Brazil, Fernando out drove his Renault.  At times he pushed too hard; like in Canada, but overall he put in stunning performances.  He was perhaps unlucky that his team mate beat him to the first podium, but Fernando was the man to win two races. 

Throughout the season the legend that is Martin Brundle (one of the only members of ITV’s race team who’s opinion I valued) described Fernando as the best driver package on the grid.  There isn’t much else to say here, other than to re-iterate…Fernando is the best in F1 at the moment.

I thought about other reasons, but kept simply returning to the fact that Fernando is the best.  I do believe that Lewis will win it, but I think Vettel, Kubica, and Massa also have reasonably strong chances.  Whilst all of these drivers performed very well this year; Lewis only one by one point (thanks again Glock). 

Vettel was outstanding, but I think the best is still to come.  Kubica won his first race and drove well but nothing spectacular.  And Massa, I think he proved a lot of people wrong this year, and I believe he would be a truly deserving runner-up for the award, but he still lacks the quality that Alonso has.

If you look at the season as a whole, look at all of the drivers, where they started and where they finished, look at how hard they have worked, I think you would probably come to the same conclusion as me.  Fernando Alonso is my F1 Racing Man of the Year 2008.