Fernando Alonso reveals daring late-career change that ‘made me a better F1 driver’

Fernando Alonso believes that trying out different series during his sabbatical from the premier class “made me a better F1 driver” upon his return.

Alonso took a two-year gap in his Formula 1 career in which he won the World Endurance Championship title with Toyota, including two 24 Hours of Le Mans victories, a 24 Hours of Daytona crown, as well as further attempts at the Indianapolis 500 after his initial 2017 attempt, alongside a P13 finish in the fearsome Dakar Rally.

Fernando Alonso: Eclectic motorsport mix has ‘made me a better F1 driver’

With top-level endurance racing, IndyCar and off-roading all now ticked off alongside Formula 1, with Alonso still harbouring aims of winning the Dakar Rally in future, he explained that the experience of trying different cars forced him to be “humble”, due to having to “start from scratch” in each scenario.

His first foray away from Formula 1 came at the 2017 Indy 500, when McLaren allowed him to take on the event on a one-off basis in place of the Monaco Grand Prix – and he qualified an impressive fifth place before leading a sizeable portion of the race, with an engine failure 21 laps from the end forcing his retirement.

Having now taken on multiple forms of machinery and well into his fourth season of his Formula 1 comeback, the two-time World Champion believes this rounded motorsport experience has made him a better driver for it.

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“I’ve learnt a lot of things in other series and other categories,” Alonso told Aston Martin’s official website.

“The way that you have to approach a new discipline like Indy 500 or endurance racing, is by starting from zero.

“You have to start from scratch because what you learn in F1 is not applicable in terms of a driving style for something like the Indy 500, endurance racing or off-road rally.

“When you are well established in F1, or any sport, it’s easy to fall into the trap of not improving or learning new things because you think that you know everything already.

“You have to be humble in your approach to a new series and when you are, it’s like being a beginner or rookie again: you are ready to absorb all the information that the specialists in that series are giving to you.

“Being humble, absorbing everything I could from racing in those different series, made me a better F1 driver.

“I don’t know exactly in which area or what specific part of an F1 weekend, but I’m sure my experience and learnings from other series made me a better driver.”

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