Fernando Alonso is already the oldest driver on the Formula 1 grid after the retirement of Kimi Raikkonen . More than 20 years have passed since his debut with Minardi and he has seen them in all colors in the most important motor racing in the world. With the revolutionary rule change to shake F1 next year, he has a hidden weapon for quick adaptation to the new cars. The 2022 World Cup fills all those teams away from the fight between Mercedes and Red Bull with hope and the Asturian’s ace up the sleeve is not one. They are four. Two on each side of your Alpine .
«I feel good and I think age is an advantage. I know all the circuits and the 18-inch tires, which are new in F1 , I already know them very well from the World Endurance Championship . They have the same behavior and it is the same way of piloting them, which is very different, so what for some is the first time, for me it is the second or third time, “warns Fernando Alonso before the press after the last test held in Abu Dhabi .
Tired of a second stage to forget at McLaren , and after 16 seasons in F1 , the Asturian driver slammed the door at the end of 2018. He did it tired of always fighting far away from the leading cars and bored of a competition in which he no longer felt fulfilled. Before, he had already pecked in other adventures like the Dakar Rally or the Indianapolis 500, where he was satisfied that there was life outside the absorbent Gran Circo.
Double laurel at Le Mans
He savored the taste of victory again in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 1,000 Miles of Sebring or the 6 Hours of Spa, but nothing like his double triumph in a historic setting: the 24 hours of Le Man s. In the French event he climbed to the top of the podium two years in a row with Toyota Gazoo Racing (2018 and 2019), sharing a car with another former F1 driver, Sebastien Buemi , and Kazuki Nakajim a.
His record in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) is as succinct as it is brilliant: he needed eight races to add a world title, five victories, seven podiums and four pole positions. All this with the huge 18-inch wheels of your Toyota , the same that will be mounted in 2022 by the Formula 1 teams. Fernando Alonso has already worked in advance on his ‘Plan’ and his 40 years are not going to be a problem either.
«The only problem with age is that you need the motivation to be in a sport that requires 300 days away from you, you must have the desire and the lifestyle that allows you to dedicate yourself to the sport. But apart from that, the rest are all advantages. My moment in life is fantastic to enjoy F1 and also physically the cars of today are not as demanding as in 2004 or 2005 “, warns the hero of Formula 1 .
