ALONSO ON FORMULA 1, HIS RETURN AND WHY YOU CAN’T WRITE HIM OFF JUST YET…
FORMULA 1 IS BETTER OFF HAVING FERNANDO ALONSO INVOLVED. THE DOUBLE WORLD CHAMPION HAS STILL GOT IT.
And his legend continues, after a period of years in which he has added sporting tales that few of his grand prix racing peers can match. Yes, Alonso is still a driver worth listening to. Thanks to his time racing IndyCars, sportscars and off-road machines, he’s perhaps uniquely placed to comment on modern motorsport – which, of course, he’s not afraid to do.
There’s naturally a debate to be had about ageing superstars retaining a place in motorsport’s top tier, when these days so many young drivers never reach it (although perhaps not so much in 2021, a year in which three rookies have progressed from Formula 2). But Alonso’s star status is unwavering, even as he continues one of F1’s hardest tasks: making a successful comeback with Alpine.
What Alonso is trying to do, and what he brings to F1 just by being him, demonstrates his worth to the championship. Because of who he is, people pay attention – and well they might.
“It’s a challenge,” he says of his F1 return. “And it’s a challenge this year also because of the midfield timing. Normally, it has been a challenge. But your team or your position was quite defined. A supreme weekend doing 105 per cent, or a bad weekend performing 90 per cent, normally you can be between ninth or 11th. While this year, with the midfield as it is, you can be seventh or 15th, [with a difference of just] 0.2 seconds, if you don’t perform perfectly right. We need to go for that perfection every weekend.”
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