He might have missed out on a third crown, but Fernando Alonso is pleased with his 2012 efforts. Edd Straw looks at why the Ferrari star was better this year than he was in his championship-winning seasons

Fernando Alonso made a very good point when he described the 2012 campaign as the best of his career. For all the brilliance of his back-to-back world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006, he came so close to pulling off a rare feat this year by winning the title in a car that was demonstrably not the best in the field.

That's not to say that it was a bad car for, aside from the four races that preceded the Spanish Grand Prix, the F2012 generally had the race pace to be in the mix for the podium. Yet even at Interlagos, in conditions that gave him the best chance to excel, it was a long, hard slog to get into the second place that kept his hopes alive until the chequered flag.

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