Fernando Alonso, racing for Alpine, took the front row at the Canadian Grand Prix alongside reigning world champion Max Verstappen. The 40-year-old Spaniard will start second while the Red Bull driver is first and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari is third. 

The last time Alonso, a two-time world champions, occupied the front row was a decade ago at the 2012 German Grand Prix. The likes of Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) were active then. Force India was still a relevent name and Narain Karthikeyan, the first Indian driver in F1, raced for HRT Cosworth. 

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Interestingly, 10 years ago Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were still teenagers and Lewis Hamilton, who was with McLaren, was yet to win his second championship. 

Only five drivers from the 2012 German Prix grid will start in the  2022 Canadian Grand Prix: Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez.

Formula 1 was a completely different place when Alonso started on the front row in 2012.

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This was the grid back then:

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)

Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)

Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)

Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault)

Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)

Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)

Paul di Resta (Force India)

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault)

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)

Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari)

Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari)

Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault)

Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault)

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)

Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham-Renault)

Vitaly Petrov (Caterham-Renault)

Charles Pic (Marussia-Cosworth)

Timo Glock (Marussia-Cosworth)

Pedro de la Rosa (HRT Cosworth)

Narain Karthikeyan (HRT Cosworth)

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On Saturday, Alonso brought the crowd to its feet with a thrilling run to qualify second. He jumped ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton as time expired and drew a rousing ovation from the rain-soaked spectators.

“It is an unbelievable weekend so far for us. The car was mega. I was so comfortable driving this car, and the fans pushed me to make an extra push,” he said