Fernando Alonso sits down with Esquire Middle East ahead of the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to look back at 2021, assess where he’s at in his career, and takes a closer look at what makes these Middle East races stand out.
This has been a very memorable year thus far. What stood out for you most about 2021?
It was a good season for us as a team. We improved in couple of areas that we were not strong enough in at the beginning. And in my case, I’m happy with the system. I made some progress on my side as well. In the beginning, I was not 100% confident with the car. And that’s a good preparation for the 2022 campaign. Now I feel more prepared, and I think the team is more prepared as well. Looking also their pure numbers and results, it’s my best season since 2014. In a way, I’m happy that we are performing a little bit better in my last chapter in Formula One.
How do you feel you’ve grown and changed as a driver over the years?
You always change, but not only as a driver. I think all of us are different when you’re 20, 30, or 40 years old in many aspects in life, and it’s no different in driving. When you close the visor and are on the track, everything feels very much the same. You feel like you’re not making maybe huge progress, even though you are, and you have more experience. You earn different driving techniques, you adapt to the new tyres, or new aerodynamics, so there is always a constant evolution. Apart of that, you reach a different level of maturity. You approach the weekend, and the races, in a different way, but no different than any other person with age.
Could you explain a bit more to me about how you know that maturity does affect the way that you approach a race weekend? Like how would you in your rookie season approach the weekend, for example?
Yeah, obviously, you have more experience. For example, you learn when times in the weekend are important and others are not so important in terms of giving you the best result on Sunday afternoon or more performance in the car, so you approach the free practice in a much calmer way. If you miss one lap, because of traffic or whatever, you learn it’s not the end of the world.
(L to R): Fernando Alonso (ESP) Alpine F1 Team with Reema Juffali (KSA) Racing Driver. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sunday 5th December 2021. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 
(L to R): Fernando Alonso (ESP) Alpine F1 Team with Reema Juffali (KSA) Racing Driver. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sunday 5th December 2021. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
I think when you are young, you are more active, you are sharper on things that sometimes are useless, and you put too much energy on things that are not giving you anything.
Also, off-track, Formula One is very demanding. You have a lot of commitments, you have sponsors, you have media, you have engineers, meetings, and there are a lot of things that are happening off track. And now I think with time you learn how to save energy in some of those moments to be 100% focused on the driving. And that’s something that totally comes with experience.
You mentioned a bit about getting used to getting more confident this year with the car. How does that maturity end up helping that process?
With that, it was also a help to have a little more experience, because at the beginning of the year, I think this team had developed in the past different concepts in power steering, and the way you have the feedback on your hands from the front grip I felt that at the beginning of the year that I was not confident with those settings. We had to change a little bit of weight and the philosophy of this team on how the front suspension works. That’s very unique, because each driver is a little bit different. And I think we have some good shortcut here and there. In race five and six, we were already on top of the problem. We introduced a couple of different settings on my car for the power steering. And that was a good help for my driving style and my performance as well changed from there onwards.
Which moment would you pick as the highlight for you, the most exhilarating or the most memorable? Which moment you keep thinking back to the most?
I think this year, it has to be podium in Qatar. I was waiting for that moment, envisioning that ceremony for a long time, and it did arrive in Qatar. That’s probably the highlight. As a team, I think also personally, the big victory of Esteban in Hungary was also very, very emotional to be part of the team there and to enjoy the celebrations. Also in Hungary, I won my first race in 2003 with Renault and so our team winning the first race in Hungary with another driver, there were a lot of similarities there. It was nice to be part of.
What are the conversations between you two like? What do you most look to and lean on each other for?
We have a very good relationship. Now we understand that we have to help the team, both of us, pushing each other to the limit on race weekends, but also working very hard at the factory, and with the designers for the future projects starting in 2022.
On the track, by causalities of race weekends, we have found ourselves in moments and races that we had to help our teammate in terms of defending from our main opponents, or at the start in the first corner, helping each other to cover our positions and not lead our main rivals to attack, some things like that. There was a lot of communication, a lot of interaction to make sure that we were on the same page. And all that brought, I think, a very strong relationship between us. And I’m happy to experience that.
What stands out the most about this final run in the Middle East, from Qatar to Jeddah to Abu Dhabi?
I’m happy when Formula One comes to a new country that brings us a new fan base and we can show our sport to new people. I think some people in those countries have discovered Formula One for the very first time when we arrived. I remember in Bahrain the first year, then Abu Dhabi, and now is growing in Qatar, and Saudi as well. They were all following the same steps, building up that event, getting a lot of media attention, creating a lot of new talk in those places for that weekend. And after that, the legacy keeps going for years and years, because there is a new fan base that’s now into Formula One, and that’s very, very nice to see.
(L to R): Fernando Alonso (ESP) Alpine F1 Team with Reema Juffali (KSA) Racing Driver. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sunday 5th December 2021. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 
(L to R): Fernando Alonso (ESP) Alpine F1 Team with Reema Juffali (KSA) Racing Driver. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sunday 5th December 2021. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In my opinion, I like to race in the Middle East. I think those these countries are very well prepared to host a Formula One event. They have big airports, big hotels, good facilities, and everything fits very well. Formula One is like a circus coming every two weeks around the world. You need accommodation for 3000 people, you need a big airport, you need great facilities and it has to be convenient, and these countries in the Middle East have all of this so in my opinion I’m very happy to race in this part of the world.
What were the main lessons you took away from Jeddah last weekend?
What I was surprised about is how the city and the country were involved for Formula One. The whole city was full of racing touches. There were flags in the highway, the shopping malls had checkered flags or tyres or something close on all the branding. I was surprised how much people were involved and how people were ready for this to happen, the people in Saudi were very ready for Formula One to come.
What are you looking forward to on Sunday in Abu Dhabi?
I think our Constructor Championship position is not 100% secure but 99%. We have a good position versus AlphaTauri. Because of that, I’m focusing on enjoying what we can.It has been a long season, we’ve been always pushing the limit and always adding some stress,to score points and to over perform versus AlphaTauri and other teams. Because of that, I will approach this weekend, and Sunday as a gift for the team, for the mechanics ,for the engineers, for myself, to just go out there and enjoy with not too much pressure of the result as a celebration of a very good season.
