> 2009 - Disillusion

The new Renault R29 car was not up to his expectations at the start of the year, after it performed poorly in winter testing. He had a good race at the Nurburgring finishing in the points and near the Brawn cars. For the last stint, Fernando was the fastest man on the track, half a second quicker than the leaders. The Hungarian Grand Prix brought major disappointment for the Spaniard. He qualified on pole for the first time this season (on a short fuel load) and led for the first stint of the race until disaster struck. The pitcrew didn't fit the wheel correctly, and it came off during Alonso's first lap out of the pits. He finished in a respectable sixth place at the 2009 European Grand Prix ahead of world championship leader Jenson Button, but retired from the next race in Belgium in a near repeat of the front tyre incident in Hungary. This time however, the tyre was damaged after contact with Adrian Sutil's Force India, which meant a disastrous pit stop when a replacement tyre could not be fitted properly, and Renault chose to retire him on safety grounds. He has since improved to a third place podium on the controversial Singapore gp, showing that he has skill and the pace needed to get results on this difficult track.