While Spain Reveled in ‘Alonsomania’, Fernando Alonso Was Stuck in a Bad Place Despite Flourishing F1 Career

While Spain Reveled in 'Alonsomania', Fernando Alonso Was Stuck in a Bad Place Despite Flourishing F1 Career

The years 2005 and 2006 brought about an unprecedented change in the life of Fernando Alonso, who rose to the top of the F1 world almost instantaneously. Driving for Renault at the time, he won consecutive Drivers’ titles and became his nation’s hero by becoming the only Spanish world champion in history. Popular Amazon Prime Video series ‘Fernando‘ showcases how the incredible rise to fame led to drastic changes in the life of the 42-year-old.

While Alonso enjoyed the increased fame he received due to ‘Alonsomania,’ his sister revealed how the whole phase became overwhelming for her. Journalists would always swarm the Alonso household.

If they would take a step back, fans would step in their place and continue hounding them for even the smallest of glimpses of their national hero. A friend of Fernando Alonso described the whole episode as “pure madness”.

Alonso’s then-manager, Flavio Briatore, further revealed how the Spaniard’s personal life took a turn for the worse following his fame. While the newspapers and media hailed Alonso for his achievements, it led to him almost completely losing his personal space.

Normal tasks such as heading out to buy groceries or going out with his family or friends to watch a movie became a tough ask for Alonso as people would rush up to him and invade his privacy. The fame brought about a drastic change in Alonso’s life, who understood more and more how people wanted to befriend him, owing largely to his incredible fame.

He became stuck in a hostile world, only aided by a handful of people he trusted. Consequently of such incidents, the current Aston Martin driver from that point on knew he would never be able to lead the life of an average man he used to live until 2004.

Fernando Alonso never let fame come in the way of his personal relations

Despite growing immensely popular and ‘Alonsomania‘ hitting all of Spain, the driver responsible for it never lost touch with his true self. Fernando Alonso made all attempts possible to ensure he remained his authentic self despite the increasingly overwhelming attention the nation laid on him.

To achieve the same, the now 42-year-old kept professional ties with 98% of the people around him. Meanwhile, he ensured that he kept extremely close ties with the other 2% of people whom he trusted the most in his life.

Given his rising fame, Alonso also soon understood the impact he had on others as a human being. His sense of self increased multifold, and he knew he needed to instill only good things in those who looked up to him through his actions.

At the end of it all, Alonso knew the fame of F1 and the pedestal people were putting him on was temporary. As a result, it further motivated him to stay true to himself and not let success get the better of his mind.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
Fernando Alonso

About the author

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Naman Gopal Srivastava

Naman is an F1 writer at The SportsRush. Initially a football fanatic who worships Puyol and Leo Messi, Naman soon fell in love with the world of F1 upon reading about Jim Clarke. While the current era drivers do fascinate him, Naman still chooses to idolize Clarke and Ayrton Senna. When he is not busy watching the highlights of some of the greatest races of his idols, Naman can be found scribbling little snippets in his diary of poems or out in the town, exploring new places to eat.

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