“Honestly, it’s not very important”- Fernando Alonso mitigate his need for controversial F1 youth driving test

“Honestly, it’s not very important”- Fernando Alonso mitigate his need for controversial F1 youth driving test, as he claims he was eveready.

Fernando Alonso is confirmed to drive for Renault in 2021, and he was surprisingly called in to do the three-day youth driving tests, which amassed much criticism from Renault’s rivals.

However, Fernando Alonso on the other side claims that he didn’t need that time on the track as he feels he is prepared since his time with McLaren in 2018.

“Honestly, it’s not very important,” he said when asked by Autosport about this week’s run. I know that there was a lot of media attention to this. I mean, every kilometre is important, and it will be welcome.

“But I feel more or less ready after the 2018 days. This one will be nice because it’s the race engineers and mechanics, so I get to know them a little bit more because the 2018 testing was with a young team.

“So on that aspect, it’s gonna be nice to get some interaction with the people you will work with in the future. But in terms of feeling or driving or something, it’s okay, but it’s not a day or night change for my preparation.”

Feedbacks are useless

Alonso did concede the fact that he would be able to get feedback from his staff over this track time, but he also feels that there will be no value to it.

“You will give your feedback, but honestly, I don’t know what they can do into next year with this car, because they are losing a lot of downforce from the cars, and with the different tyres,” he added.

“So, how much will affect anything you say going into next year, I don’t think it’s gonna be any. So it’s more for me to feel comfortable with the guys, as I said, the seat position, whatever. It should be enough, but not too much.”

Alonso said his demo runs in his 2005 Renault R25 last weekend didn’t help him, even with relearning the track, as he had run in Abu Dhabi recently: “I’ve been testing here with a 2018 car, and that was very useful.

“But with the 2005 car, I think it’s totally different. I couldn’t take anything.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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