Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have pulled off some impressive overtakes in their Formula 1 careers.
Alonso’s overtake at 130R at Suzuka on Michael Schumacher springs to mind as an example of his sheer bravery, while Vettel was always a committed overtaker at the height of his dominance with Red Bull.
The pair found themselves battling for fifth position during the 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with Alonso having to tussle his Ferrari to stay ahead of Sebastian Vettel.
It was the first year of the hybrid engines and the chassis regulations had also been updated to make the cars harder to drive, although it produced varying results up and down the grid.
Red Bull’s RB10 was a good chassis but lacked engine power due to the unreliable Renault engine, while the platypus-nosed Ferrari F14 T was difficult to drive with a poor power unit and unpredictable chassis.
The difficult car didn’t stop Alonso from pulling off one of the best overtakes of the season, according to Martin Brundle, during his scrap with Vettel around Silverstone.
Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel put on a show at Silverstone
The race had already been delayed due to a crash for Kimi Raikkonen at the start of the race, in which the Finn ploughed into the barriers at high speed exiting Aintree.
The barriers needed to be repaired, and after an hour-long wait, the race was back underway. Alonso was recovering after taking an engine-related penalty and managed to climb up to eighth place after 25 laps.
Ferrari would extend his first stint, which would enable him to put pressure on Vettel later in the race after the Red Bull driver had completed his second pit stop. Alonso passed Vettel twice as they duelled for fifth place, with the Spaniard pulling off the overtake at the high-speed Copse corner.
Vettel would later use DRS on the Wellington Straight to pass Alonso briefly, before he used his Ferrari to cut him off at Brooklands to retain fifth. After a few attempts at Brooklands in the following laps, an irate Vettel voiced his displeasure at Alonso’s blocking tactics over team radio.
After a few more attempts, Vettel made use of Alonso’s Ferrari stepping out at Copse corner to overtake him on the inside for the place.
Martin Brundle was ‘super impressed’ by Fernando Alonso ‘bold’ overtaking move
It was an impressive race between two world champions and showed the car control of Alonso, who was dealing with a Ferrari that was famed for its terminal understeer.
Brundle wrote in his column for Sky Sports F1 after the race that Alonso’s overtake was bold and one of the best he’s seen, reminding him of what Nelson Piquet once did to him at Suzuka.
“I went big on Alonso’s overtake during commentary because I just loved the sheer bravery and skill of it. But frankly, Sebastian’s move back past Fernando, when he nipped up the inside and kept his foot in, was nearly as bold as the overtake Fernando pulled off around the outside,” said Brundle.
“But I was super impressed with Alonso’s move because I know how difficult that corner is – super fast Copse is hard just to drive when you’re by yourself because it’s difficult to see, being just out of sight behind the pit wall barrier in a sea of grey.
“It reminded me of when Nelson Piquet passed me into 130R and left it to me to decide whether we were both going to have an aeroplane-style crash, just as Alonso did to Schumacher there in 2005.”
Neither Ferrari nor Vettel won a race in the 2014 season, marking it the first for the Italian team since 1993 with the Ferrari F93A.