Fernando Alonso breaks down the reason behind making F1 come back at 40, laments his efforts ‘wasted at home’
The two-time World Champion explained his return to the sport at such a "young" age
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Fernando Alonso (Credits: racingnews365)
Fernando Alonso is a two-time Formula 1 World Champion and a driver who is reputed for his raw pace even in his 40s. The Spaniard is currently 42 years of age and when other drivers are planning and spending time with their families, Alonso is collecting podiums in his cabinet.
Alonso is regarded as one of the best drivers on the current F1 grid and has had quite a few championship battles in the 2000s and 2010s. He is the driver who stopped the combination of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari in 2005 and 2006 after their successive titles. He had decided to retire after the 2018 season after an unsuccessful reunion with McLaren from 2015-18 where he was in a tough fight even to score a point.
Fernando Alonso has explained the situation that he was in when he decided to make a comeback in F1 after his sabbatical in 2018. My return to F1, I believed that in a good moment at the driving level, I felt wasted being at home. This 2023 was a bit of a vindication and in 2024 or 2025 I do see myself with strength, desire, energy and optimism.Fernando Alonso said this in an interview, via soymotor.com
While in retirement, Alonso had missed the rush that the sport had provided him and felt that he was missing out on the action. He didn’t “want to see it from the sofa” as he said, and joined in on the action by signing for Renault in 2020 (now Alpine) to drive for them in 2021. Alonso is now driving for Aston Martin and finished 4th in the standings overall for the 2023 season.
Why did Fernando Alonso retire from F1 in 2018?
Alonso had great championship battles with Sebastian Vettel in the 2010 and 2012 seasons and was the majority point scorer for Ferrari in those seasons scoring more than 70% of the points of the whole team. Vettel was going to replace him for the 2015 season, so he decided to shift ships and went back to McLaren.
The partnership at McLaren did not end up as he had hoped for, he aimed for the world championship with the team. However, he was scrounging for mere points in that Honda-powered McLaren and the F1 world witnessed the “GP2 Engine” at its worst holding back Alonso.
During the 2018 season, Alonso decided to retire from the sport after the end of the season and wanted to focus on other forms of motorsport like Indycar, endurance racing etc. After the completion of the final race of the season, Alonso left the sport for the time being and returned for a second spell just 3 years later.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)