MADRID, September 6 (.) –
The Spanish F-1 driver Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) insists that both he and his team have “great ambition” for the year 2024, especially after seeing how a 2023 that was initially to “progress” has developed. , and he celebrated being “enjoying”, something that motivates him to try with all his “strength” to become world champion again.
“I think of 2024 because the ambition of every athlete is to win, not to be third or fifth. 2024 is indeed an important year, to tell the truth we think of 2023 as a year to progress, to learn many things and to in 2024 try to get on the podium and look how 2023 has gone, so we have great ambitions for next year as well”, Alonso said this Wednesday in an interview with ‘El Larguero’ on the ‘SER’ channel.
The Asturian is “happy” with this season, “with the personal and collective performance” and “with the good atmosphere and fantastic energy” that he sees in a “young” team. “I am enjoying myself and this is the most important thing. On my return to F-1 two years ago I did not arrive with the specific objective of demonstrating anything, but I did have the desire, at least, to be competitive again, to fight for victories and podiums, something that I had not had in my last years in F-1. The year for me has been very happy and motivates me to continue working hard and aspire to more things,” he warned.
Asked about the famous ’33’, the viral number in relation to the figure he would reach with his next victory, he confessed that “at first” he was “good”. “Now it’s not that I get tired, but there’s always fear of disappointing, with so many fans and so much movement that there is with the 33, but it’s beautiful. And I think that sport is also based on that, to excite, to dream of something”, remarked.
Alonso is third in a World Championship dominated by Red Bull and for which he sees “two readings.” “One is that the new regulations have brought good things, for sure, and we can follow the cars much closer than in the past. From third on the grid to last, sometimes going to ‘Q1’ is very difficult because in four tenths, there are about 16 cars. The equality that was sought has been achieved,” he commented.
“But something has gone wrong because of the last 25 races, 24 have been won by a Red Bull,” he recalled, making it clear that the Austrian team is the “best in everything” and that “it is not just the fastest car.” “They have the fastest driver who doesn’t make mistakes, they make the stops faster, they make the best starts, the best strategies. At the moment they don’t have weak points and all the teams are there working hard to find them,” said the two-time world champion. of F-1.
In any case, he does not stop to “think” what his performance would be like without driving the ‘RB19’. “What is clear to me is that Verstappen is doing a better job than the rest and you have to accept it and see it with humility. He has 10 victories in a row and they have not been easy, there have been 10 rainy races, with stops, with red flags, with interruptions and has never failed. Red Bull is a good team and a good car, but their union with Verstappen is what is making the difference”, he admitted.
“EVEN IF SAINZ IS NOT MY PARTNER, YOU ARE ALWAYS LESS AGGRESSIVE”
The man from Oviedo referred to his relationship with Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), with whom he does not fight “the same as against another driver.” “Although he is not my partner, he is your friend and the other Spaniard on the track, and you are always a little less aggressive with what you do and you always try to take care of him in a more special way than the others,” he assured.
“I think that if I’m wheel to wheel, then he leaves me that half ‘metrito’ more because we kind of respect each other. That extra then on the one hand is good and it’s a nice gesture that we have. We have that privilege, we are the only Spaniards in the F-1, we haven’t had it in practically the history of F-1 and we don’t know when we will have it again. So I think we have to enjoy both”, he added in this regard.
Alonso stressed that the ‘AMR23’ “has some very strong qualities in certain curves and in certain conditions”, but that they discovered “quickly at the beginning of the year that it has some weakness” and that in some circuits, as happened in Monza (Italy), last weekend, they were going to “suffer”. “The races that go well I enjoy and the podiums I celebrate as if they were victories, and when things go wrong I continue in a certain way and enjoy the journey and learning,” he said.
Now comes Singapore, a route that they do not have “with a positive cross”, but “yes” that they have “more hope of doing well.” “I like it, it’s urban and you can take risks. I’ve always been good at it and from the remaining races, I know that I’m going to give it that extra risk there more than in other places,” said the Spaniard.
He does not have “the goal” of being world champion again before retiring. “I may retire without having considered that or the 33rd, but, at the same time, I train every day thinking about winning again and fighting for the World Cup and if not, I wouldn’t do it,” he explained.
“I am 42 years old and I have enjoyed this sport more than I ever dreamed. If I am here and you sacrifice a little bit of your whole life for this sport and for this passion it is because you believe in yourself, in the team and that you can win and If not, you wouldn’t do it. So I’m going to try with all my might, yes,” he stressed.
And it is that the Oviedo man now sees the ‘great circus’ to which he returned after living “very enriching experiences” with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Indy Car or the Dakar. “I also saw things in F-1 from the outside that perhaps I had not seen from the driver’s point of view. All the things that happen before the race, such as the anthem or the interviews, I embrace them with much more affection than before because I know that they are an important part of the show and a privilege. When I enter the ‘paddock’ now I feel privileged to do what I like and to be an F-1 driver”, he argued.
Finally, he spoke about his signing for Aston Martin, which occurred “a bit due to a combination of circumstances.” “The first is that Vettel withdrew and that in Alpine he had already been negotiating for several months. Nothing ever came to fruition and I noticed a bit of a lack of professionalism. That desire to have me from Aston Martin attracted me, seduced me and it was an adventure , but in the end it went well and the hunch this time served. I think that in Aston Martin the level of ambition was greater than in Alpine”, sentenced.
