Autosport Plus

The return of the king

After a year to forget for both Fernando Alonso and his former Renault team in 2007, the Spaniard reunited with his French team, to take them back on to the top step of the podium - not once, but twice in a row. Jonathan Noble reflects on their renaissance, and where it leads from here

At first we didn't believe him. We had become all too aware of what a political animal Fernando Alonso could be after his annus miserabilis at McLaren in 2007, so all his elaborate talk of downplaying Renault's form on his return to the team was just interpreted as part of the action plan.

Only by playing things down could Alonso hope to catch the opposition unawares, and return Renault to the winners' circle.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.