Fernando Alonso has had an F1 career spanning over 20 years but hasn’t had the same luck when it comes to relationships. After being secretly married to Spanish pop singer Raquel del Rosario for five years, the duo split from each other in 2011. Ever since then, Alonso hasn’t married again. He also decided against having kids of his own. In a recent episode of the High-Performance Podcast, Alonso revealed that this was a sacrifice that he had to make because of his life in Formula 1.
F1 is the world’s largest traveling circus, with drivers and teams traveling around the world week after week throughout the year. The 2023 F1 calendar, for example, will see the teams travel to 20 different countries across five continents.
#OnThisDay in 2018, Fernando Alonso announced his plan to retire from F1
What a difference five years makes! 💫#F1 @alo_oficial pic.twitter.com/JRRYcSheqm
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 14, 2023
This means that F1 personnel rarely get any time to spend with their friends and family at home. This holds true for the drivers as well, who often have added promotional duties. Thus, due to this unavailability at home, many drivers choose not to start a family during their F1 career, and Alonso happens to be one of them.
The big sacrifice made by Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso recently appeared on the High Performance Podcast where he was asked about his choice to not start a family. The hosts mentioned that Alonso is 42 and at this age, many people already have children and a wife and a happy family, but not Alonso. They asked if this was a sacrifice that he had to make because of his F1 career.
Alonso took his time to think and replied, “Probably yes. Yeah!” He went on and explained that if he wasn’t an F1 driver and wasn’t involved with the sport, he probably would already have had a family by now. However, Alonso accepts the reality for what it is and said that he doesn’t think too much about this issue.
However, not being married does not mean that Alonso lacks in the relationship department. Recent rumors suggest that the two time world champion is dating DAZN presenter, Melissa Jimenez.
Alonso can finally fulfil his dream
As per a report by Spanish news outlet MARCA, Alonso is possibly dating Jimenez as of now. The rumors started when a picture of Alonso with a fan went viral ahead of the Monaco GP. The picture had Jimenez and her child in the background, prompting people to think that something was definitely up between the two.
The daughter of the chief engineer of the motorcycle racing team Aprilia, Jimenez was previously married to former FC Barcelona defender Marc Batra. The duo has three children together, and if Jimenez is really dating Alonso, the children might finally fulfil Alonso’s dream to have a family.
