This weekend, Fernando Alonso is reunited with a Japanese Grand Prix where he has won twice, a country in which he has not competed as a Formula 1 driver since the 2018 season, when he finished 14th in his last season with McLaren before leave the category in a “see you later” that ended in early 2021.
This Thursday, at the press conference prior to the event, the Spaniard recalled the only time he has so far managed to climb to the top of the podium on this mythical circuit: “I have won once! In 2006… only once… but I also won in Fuji.”
He arrived at that grand prix, with two races to go, tied on points with a Michael Schumacher who had been coming back after winning five of the previous seven tests. And what at that time seemed unthinkable happened, that the Ferrari said ‘enough’ and the engine left the seven-time champion stranded.
“It was also special for what it meant for the championship, beating Michael after an engine problem at turn 8, it was a great joy to see his car stop,” Fernando said on his day.
Alonso added the 10 points as the winner and stayed that distance in the absence of a grand prize, that of Brazil , which crowned him as two-time world champion.
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo by: XPB Images
Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images
Prior to that, Alonso had also starred at the 2005 Japanese GP . He was already champion after beating Raikkonen (McLaren) and passed Michael Schumacher on the outside at the famous 130R curve. The German struggled all year with an uncompetitive single-seater, and the Asturian overtook him to finish on the podium in the race held just after winning his first world championship in Interlagos, Brazil.
At the time, the official F1 account shared the video of the moment on Instagram and Alonso said that it had been a time that everyone misses: “I put the video on and received about three thousand comments saying: ‘This is the Formula 1 that I fell in love and not now”.
Beyond those two personal moments and his victory in Fuji 2008 also with Renault, Alonso spoke of other memories of Japan, when he had not even made his debut.
“When Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost crashed into each other every year. Those were pretty impressive moments.” And who did Fernando support? To his idol: “I supported more Senna when I was a child and in those incidents I supported him. One season he did well and he won the championship and the other he didn’t, so 1-1”.
After two years of absence due to COVID-19, the Japanese GP and Suzuka return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2022, although in the specific case of Alonso three seasons have passed, since the Asturian was absent during the 2019 campaign.
