Alonso defies middle age, but Bortoleto's growth adds twist to master/student relationship

A week ago, Fernando Alonso turned 44. Then, on Friday, Alonso missed FP1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix with a back injury, citing a muscular issue around his lumbar area. The mean-spirited jokes about middle age and the accompanying decay of the human body really do write themselves.

When Formula 1's comms department does its end-of-year Secret Santa between the drivers, one might wager that a paddock jokester would present Alonso with slippers, a pipe and a pack of Werther's Originals...

But when you're Fernando Alonso, you don't need a working back – as his tour de force run to fifth in Budapest duly proved. The Spaniard and his Aston Martin engineers played around with padding in his seat to ease the burden on his lower back, evidently finding a comfortable solution for the rest of the weekend. Even so, nothing's quite a substitute for rest, so Alonso can at least count on four weeks of mostly relaxation before preparing for the final 10 races of the year.

Elite sportspeople can transcend their physical limitations. Tennis legend Andre Agassi, for example, spent his entire career battling spondylolisthesis (a chronic back problem). Yet that hardly stopped him from reaching world #1 status and attaining eight Grand Slams across his career, playing on the ATP Tour until the ripe old age of 38. Alonso, for his part, does not have a right pectoral muscle. Yet, he's regarded as one of the most physically strong drivers on the grid; these are mere inconveniences for an athlete to overcome.

Having played through the pain, Alonso roared to fifth on the grid – although he briefly sat second in the Q2 standings before the order shuffled as the final runs made their impact on the timing board. Handily for Aston Martin's points situation, he retained that through the race, but not before passing the boxed-in Lando Norris on the opening lap as the McLaren driver got stuck behind the battling Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri. Of course, Alonso could not realistically hold onto that position; he was very much focused on making a one-stop strategy work. His pace in the opening stint did not look particularly magical, but it was enough to maintain track position behind the front four and ensure that anyone behind him attempting a two-stop wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting close.

Across the 70-lap race, Alonso's sole rival was Gabriel Bortoleto: his protege and management client. Through his association with Alonso, Bortoleto is steadily accruing his own reputation for cerebral capacity over a race distance and a diligent approach to working within a team. But Hungary showed where the two – currently, at least – differ: Alonso knew when to push and when to pull. He pushed at the start to make up ground on the opening lap, but pulled his punches when Norris – and, later, Russell – were angling to pass. He surmised that there was little point in wasting time dealing with the faster cars, but only at his convenience.

Bortoleto is managed by A14 Management, a firm owned by Alonso

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

"I didn't want to lose much time," Alonso said when Russell was catching him. "I wanted him to overtake me on the main straight, not into Turn 2 because then we both lose a lot of time. I said, 'I will defend this straight and maybe on the next lap I let him go.'"

In his commentary for Sky, Martin Brundle has often suggested that Alonso has a knack for driving the races of those around him; and this was another such example of this. When motivated, the Asturian has the mental reserve to dip into the cockpits of the surrounding cars and manipulate their races to his liking, albeit still grounded in realism. The trouble is that in recent races where Aston Martin has fallen outside of its competitive window, the motivation to pull the strings is less likely to appear.

It was perhaps imperceptible, but Alonso did the same with Bortoleto over their two respective stints. When Alonso was taking it easy on the tyres once Norris had got back past, Bortoleto was soon nipping at his mentor's heels – but didn't quite seem sure of that push/pull pace; thus, punches were pulled. Aston Martin's speed may have been a surprise over the Hungary weekend, but you can also bet Alonso knew how much of it he'd had in reserve. As the opening stint on mediums unfurled, Bortoleto soon had to preserve his own one-stop ambitions and detached the grappling hook from the car ahead.

Alonso will surely have been of some use to help Bortoleto dissect those opening 14 F1 races. He could also count on Max Verstappen to offer some token advice, as the two often sim-race together and are often spotted chatting on the drivers' parade. It says something about somebody's calibre when two drivers considered as generational talents clearly rate them highly, and want to help them succeed

Hungary presented Bortoleto the second opportunity – Austria was the other – to watch Alonso at work in the points-paying positions. While the rookie might not have anywhere near the wealth of experience Alonso has (and he'll need to be alive for another 24 years to reach that), he can at least take his time to drink from the fount of knowledge. The extent of what he's already imbibed is paying off, as the improvement in Bortoleto's form is noticeable in recent races.

Sauber team boss Jonathan Wheatley has spoken very highly of his young charge: "Gabriel has a fantastic work ethic. He has a capacity for taking on new information. He's proving every way to be the future star that we expected him to be." And there was a whisper of Bortoleto's strength in qualifying when he toppled team-mate Nico Hulkenberg first time out in Australia, making Q2 as the German failed to progress from Q1.

While it was difficult in the early rounds for the Brazilian to demonstrate the class that had taken him to a first-year F2 title, as Sauber was still in a poor frame of performance in the opening third of the year, it at least offered a low-stakes (pun definitely intended) opportunity to do all of his learning outside of the mainstream gaze. There were crashes, incidents and offs – he crashed in Australia and went into the gravel at the start of the Chinese Grand Prix. Many expect perfection from rookies when they reach F1, but in reality they must be afforded time to make those mistakes; surpassing the limit is often the way to find it.

Bortoleto is starting to show the speed that earned him back-to-back F3 and F2 titles

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

And so, Bortoleto has proved that. He leads the grand prix qualifying battle over Hulkenberg 8-6, and is now starting to complement that one-lap pace by stringing the races together. Tyre management is improving, as is his big-picture race management; on a micro-level, the split-second decisions that emerge during wheel-to-wheel combat will become sharper with each passing race.

Alonso will surely have been of some use to help Bortoleto dissect those opening 14 F1 races. He could also count on Max Verstappen to offer some token advice, as the two often sim-race together and are regularly spotted chatting on the drivers' parade. It says something about somebody's calibre when two drivers considered as generational talents clearly rate them highly and want to help them succeed. Let's not forget Hulkenberg's influence here either, as the veteran has also taken a role in the Paulista's development; Wheatley praised their collaboration, stating that their pairing was "the closest, most collaborative driver pairing I think I can remember in all my time in Formula 1".

Hulkenberg even did his bit to help Bortoleto secure sixth in Hungary by staying out long to contain Lance Stroll, made possible as his race had been hurt by a jump-start penalty.

Losing that race-long battle in Hungary to Alonso might not have been of immediate consequence to Bortoleto, but watching one of the canniest drivers in the game up close and personal will have been of value. And, while Alonso has evidently still got the pace to make the most of competitive machinery (but not necessarily the magic ability to conjure that at will), there will be a point at which the master will have to concede to the student.

But not yet. Alonso might be the oldest driver to race in F1 since Graham Hill, but there's life in the wily old dog yet. He's only 44, after all.