The last time Fernando Alonso won a race...

12 May 2013 is the date. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is the venue. Home-favourite Fernando Alonso still adorns the scarlet red overalls of Ferrari as he prepares to climb into the cockpit of his Prancing Horse and line up from fifth place on the Spanish Grand Prix grid. 

A lightning-fast start saw the Spaniard rocket into third place on the opening lap, including a bold double pass around the outside of Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes at the high-speed Turn 3. 

Thanks to a masterclass strategy from Ferrari, Alonso then successfully undercut second-place man Sebastian Vettel during the pit stop window, before he chased down and overtook pole-sitter Nico Rosberg into Turn 1 to send his home fans into raptures. 

With his first of the season victory, Alonso moved to within 20 points of championship leader Vettel. But he would not taste the winners’ champagne again until his debut WEC win for Toyota in Saturday’s season-opening 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. 

Much has changed in the 1,819 days that separated his last two victories. Here are some notable events that occurred in the same month...

“Get Lucky” 

The latest disco-funk song from French house music duo Daft Punk was well on it’s way to becoming one of the best-selling songs of all time, with 9.3 million copies sold. It was number one in the UK music charts on the same weekend as Alonso secured victory in Spain. 

The end of an era in football 

May was a busy month for football. Manchester United beat Swansea on May 12 to seal a record 20th Premier League title in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final home game at Old Trafford, while Paul Scholes announced his retirement and David Moyes was confirmed as Ferguson’s successor at The Theatre of Dreams. 

It was a weekend to remember for Man Utd fans, as fierce rivals Manchester City were defeated 1-0 by relegation-bound Wigan in one of the greatest FA Cup Final shocks of all time on the previous day. 

Elsewhere, David Beckham helped PSG claim its first Ligue 1 title since 1994 and became the first English player to win league titles in four different countries (England, Spain, USA and France) as he also retired, while Barcelona sealed a fourth straight La Liga title and Bayern Munich set a new Bundesliga points record of 91, before beating German rivals Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at the end of the month. 

A new star of two-wheels

20-year-old sensation Marc Marquez led the 2013 MotoGP championship in May for Honda and was well on his way to becoming the youngest ever champion. It would be the first of four MotoGP titles for the Spaniard to date.

Formula E still a vision 

Formula E was just a dream for CEO and founder Alejandro Agag. The inaugural season did not get formally approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council until seven months later in December. The popular all-electric single-seater series is now heading towards the conclusion of its fourth campaign and the crowning of a fourth different champion in as many years.

Politics 

David Cameron was halfway through his tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, while Barack Obama had begun his second and final term in office at the White House as the 44th President of the United States. As for Donald Trump? He was still yet to announce his intention of running for office.

TV and Film 

Hit HBO TV show Game of Thrones was in just its third season and fans were yet to be shocked by the events of ‘The Rains of Castamere’ (also known as ‘The Red Wedding’), while Star Trek Into Darkness, The Great Gatsby, Fast and Furious 6 and the Hangover Part III were all showing at the cinema and motoring TV programme Top Gear was still being presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.