FERNANDO ALONSO has parked his dream of achieving motorsport’s Triple Crown to focus on resuming his Formula One career.
The two-time F1 champ will return to the sport next season after a hiatus spent racing in other categories.
Fernando Alonso admits he is “quite shy” ahead of his Amazon documentary’s releaseCredit: AFP – Getty
The Spaniard has been trying to win the Indy 500 to complete the hat-trick to add to his victories in the F1 Monaco GP and the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
A clutch failure put pay to this year’s attempt but the 39-year-old says his F1 career is now his main focus.
He said: “Next year I will only race in F1. I had this clear in my mind because 2018 and 2019 I was very, very active.
“This year it has been a little bit quiet for everyone because of the lockdown but in my case, I needed one year off and have a little bit of a normal life.
“In the next couple of years, it will only be F1. There will be more and more races, mainly in Europe, maybe in Vietnam, maybe in Saudi Arabia, so there are already enough demanding weekends to add another programme.
“Right now, I cannot say if I will come back to IndyCar after my F1 chapter or whether I will ever go back.
“At the moment, I don’t know what my state of mind will be like in a couple of years.
“I tried [to win the Indy 500]. It is a very magical race and if I do it again or not, we will have to confirm.”
‘RIGHT TIME’
Alonso says the break from F1 has done him the power of good since he left McLaren in 2018.
But he is now itching to get back to racing after spending time with his Renault team earlier this week.
He added: “In a way, the two years out of F1 was more of a fun thing to do for me. For a long time, I had the desire to race sports cars.
“Even when I joined McLaren in 2015, the Le Mans idea was there, initially with Porsche, so I always had the wish to do the 24Hour race, Daytona, Dakar… I always had these thoughts in my mind.
“So I was thinking this was the right time. F1 would not change much in the next few years and it is a sport dominated by one team and when the rules are consistent we will not see any big change.
“So I said, let’s do the wishlist and make a decision for 2021 when the new rules were supposed to come in. We left the door open if I would come back with the new rules.
But the more races you do, the more motivated I am because I can see the team’s clear progress.
Fernando Alonso
“Unfortunately the new rules have been delayed a year due to the pandemic, so that was the only moment that I doubted if coming back to F1 or not, or I wait until 2022, but that was too long out of the sport.
“So when I signed a couple of months ago, OK, I was happy and super motivated and wanted to fight for that podium.
“But the more races you do, the more motivated I am because I can see the clear progress and I see the momentum and direction of the team building.
“I don’t know if a podium will be enough next year. When we start seeing the progress of the car over the winter and we start doing the simulator, their hopes are getting there.”
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Alonso was speaking ahead of the launch of a five-part docuseries released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.
The show captures his hectic schedule of racing in different categories while it also digs into his private life.
He said: “The TV crew were following me for nearly 300 days and the thinking behind it was to show the motorsport world outside of Formula One.
“We all know about F1 and we follow every step in to the series but outside of Formula One there is a completely new world the fans can still enjoy.
“It was also to show how active a driver can be. We are testing. We are doing events. We are training. We are switching from car to car.
“It was pretty extreme. Different series over a different weekend and it was a good thing to show from my personal point of view.
“They have been in every little part of my house, they have filmed me training, spoken to my friends. You have to deal with those things because I am quite a shy person.”
Fernando Alonso is ready for a third spell with RenaultCredit: Reuters
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Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
