Fernando Alonso’s track record in motorsport speaks for itself. Two Formula 1 world titles, another in the World Endurance Championship, in addition to the karting title in 1996, the two victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona and a long list of achievements.
During the summer of 2020, the man from Oviedo announced his return to the Great Circus after two sabbatical courses, or rather, rest of these single-seaters, since he also participated in one of the toughest tests in the world, the Dakar Rally, and the Indianapolis 500, where he was looking for the Triple Crown, which only Graham Hill has achieved in all of history.
“The two years out of the sport were enough to completely reset my mind and also my physical condition,” the Spaniard told the BBC . “I was happy training and preparing for the races, I’m as good as when I was 25 or 30 years old.”
“Age is not a factor in motorsport. In other sports it is different, you have to depend on your physical condition, but here [I would rather] have a new front or rear wing than three years younger than I have, that would give me more performance, sure,” he said.
In the 2021 season he would show that his skills in Formula 1 were still intact, even reaching the podium at the Qatar Grand Prix, something he had not done since the Hungarian race in 2014, when he was still a Ferrari driver.
Now, with almost 41 years behind him but with the motivation of a rookie eager to take on the world, Fernando Alonso wants to win a race in the highest category of motorsport with Alpine, and the last of his 32 victories dates back to of the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, although he is aware of the difficulty that this has.
“This is the nature of the sport,” said the two-time champion. “Sometimes you have a better car, sometimes you don’t have such a good car, and still you have to fight and progress. This year we see that the driver is very important in Formula 1, but he is not crucial.
The example of what the Spaniard expresses is Lewis Hamilton, who has gone from commanding the classification with the dominant Mercedes to fighting in the middle zone: “Lewis [Hamilton] is driving as well as in the last eight years. He was dominating the sport and breaking all the records and the more than 100 pole positions”.
“Now he’s doing a mega lap and he’s a second behind. So yes, welcome,” said Alonso, who has experienced something similar since joining McLaren-Honda in 2015, with cars too far from performance to fight for. victories.
“This is F1,” he assured. “It’s not going to be a fair sport in terms of numbers. This is a team sport, and we tend to forget that, especially when we’re successful, we’re so happy with what we’ve achieved that even if we try to share it with the team, all the starters are for the pilot.
“It happened to me when I won both championships. I beat Michael Schumacher, it was something very big, but my car was more reliable at that time and had very good performance,” Alonso continued, recalling 2005 and 2006 with the Renault single-seaters at his side. backs. “You can’t praise that car enough because the starters will still go to the driver, and with Lewis it’s the same.
“Having more than 100 pole positions in F1 is something unthinkable. You have to have the best car and the best team for many, many years,” defended the Spaniard. “Sometimes we did magic laps and we were 15th, and how do you explain that to people? It’s impossible.”
“He deserves everything he has achieved in the past, but this year is a good reminder that in all those records and numbers there is a big part that you owe to the car,” said the Alpine driver.
Alonso’s other 32 victories in F1….
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Team : Renault F1
Coach : Renault R23B
Engine: Renault V10
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: LAT Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R25
Engine: Renault V10
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: LAT Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R25
Engine: Renault V10
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Coach: Renault R25
Engine: Renault V10
Pneumatics: Michelin
Photo by: LAT Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R25
Engine: Renault V10
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R25
Engine: Renault V10
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R25
Engine: Renault V10
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: LAT Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R25
Engine: Renault V10
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R26
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R26
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R26
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R26
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R26
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R26
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R26
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Michelin
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: McLaren
Car: McLaren MP4-2
Engine: Mercedes V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: McLaren
Car: McLaren MP4-2
Engine: Mercedes V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: McLaren
Car: McLaren MP4-2
Engine: Mercedes V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: McLaren
Car: McLaren MP4-2
Engine: Mercedes V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R28
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Renault F1
Car: Renault R28
Engine: Renault V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F10
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Coach: Ferrari F10
Engine: Ferrari V8
Pneumatics: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F10
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F10
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F10
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Bridgestone
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari 150° Italy
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Pirelli
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F2012
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Pirelli
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F2012
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Pirelli
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F2012
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Pirelli
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F138
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Pirelli
Photo by: XPB Images
Team: Scuderia Ferrari
Car: Ferrari F138
Engine: Ferrari V8
Tires: Pirelli
Photo by: XPB Images
