41-year-old Fernando Alonso once said that he could not imagine continuing in F1 beyond his early 30s because of the amount of ‘concentration‘ that is required to compete in the sport at the highest level. The Spaniard made this statement in 2005, the year he was competing against the legendary Michael Schumacher, who had already completed 15 years in the sport.
When asked if he thinks he can replicate the legendary career of Schumacher, Alonso told the Guardian in an interview back in 2005, “Honestly, no. I started at 19 and I cannot be concentrated and motivated for so long. Too many years, I think. We will see“.
Both Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher gave it their all in the closing stages at Imola
The full race replay of the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix is available now on our YouTube channel
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 20, 2023
18 years have passed since Alonso made these remarks and now it seems that he is in an entirely different mood. Instead of contemplating retirement, the 41-year-old has said in various interviews recently that he is keen on carrying on for a longer time.
Fernando Alonso defeated Michael Schumacher in 2005 to win his maiden title
2005 was the year that defined Fernando Alonso as he not only won his maiden championship with Renault that year but defeated the very best in Michael Schumacher to do so. The pressure was all on the Spaniard back then as he was just 22 at the time and was going up against a seven-time world champion.
Despite being under massive pressure, Alonso not only defeated Schumacher for the title in 2005 but also defended his championship from the legendary German driver the season after. However, sadly for Alonso, he has not quite been in a position to fight for a third world championship since 2006 because of some poor career decisions.
Since leaving Renault at the end of the 2006 season, Alonso has most often found himself in teams that have not had the pace to compete for the championship. As a result of these poor decisions, he has often found himself coming close but not close enough.
Alonso’s decision to move to Aston Martin has so far paid off
Even though Fernando Alonso raised several eyebrows when he decided to move to Aston Martin at the start of this season, the move to the British outfit has paid off so far. After finishing all the way down in seventh in the Constructors’ Championship for the last two seasons, Aston Martin has made a remarkable improvement and has competed for podiums from the very first race of the 2023 season.
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After the first five races of the new campaign, Alonso has already finished on the podium on four occasions, with his worst finish being fourth. Consequently of these results, the Spaniard is currently third in the championship with 75 points, 3o points behind second-placed Sergio Perez and 44 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen.
Considering the remarkable improvement that Aston Martin has made from 2022 to 2023, Alonso will now hope for an even better step forward in 2024. If the British outfit does make such an improvement, the 41-year-old will have a realistic chance of fighting for a potential third world championship, 18 years after he won his last in 2006.
