funnily enough its because alonso suspected his final qualifying tyres were not at the correct pressure. He couldnt understand why he was slower than hammy. Sorry alonso but on that day hammy was just the better driver, he did a very 90's super soft qualifying tyre tactics just so they lasted the entire lap.
I do hope alonso comes 3rd overal and then goes to a different team so that he gets number 5 on his car. Then again number 2 would be fantastic if hammy had #1
though i dont think alonso could stomach that.
With regards to how well he's doing as a rookie, well to be fair rarely does a rookie start in a top 4 car, let alone a championship winning car (exception being jaques villneuve joining williams in 1996 when that car was dominent)