Fernando Alonso has already won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice in his illustrious career. Still, Alonso isn’t satisfied and wants to compete in the iconic race once again. However, as he said in an interview ahead of the 2023 Canadian GP, he doesn’t plan on retiring from F1 to realize his dream of winning a third Le Mans title.
Alonso is one of F1’s greatest-ever drivers, having won the world championship in 2005 and 2006. Since then, title glory has eluded him in F1, but his racing ambitions extended outside of this particular sport’s boundary. Alonso set off on a quest to get a triple crown victory, with a Monaco GP winners’ trophy already under his belt.
He’s done it! @alo_oficial WINS the 24 Hours of Le Mans! 🏁🏆 Congratulations to him and his Toyota teammates. 👏 #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/WOupaDBEat
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) June 17, 2018
In 2018 and 2019, he was a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship, after announcing a hiatus from the sport in the former year. He tasted immense success in endurance racing, winning the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans twice. He returned to F1 in 2021 and has a dream of winning another title before retiring. However, that doesn’t mean he is done with Le Mans.
Fernando Alonso wants to win Le Mans whilst driving for Aston Martin in F1
Alonso spent the first two years of his F1 return with Alpine. However, that spell was underwhelming, because the Spaniard wasn’t able to fight at the front. Since moving to Aston Martin in 2023, he has been able to compete for podium places on a regular basis, and he feels that challenging for the championship isn’t far away.
Now, after watching Ferrari’s historic win in Le Mans last week, Alonso admits that he is open to joining the grid in France again in the near future. But, he won’t stop racing in F1 either. “You can do it at the same time,” he said as quoted by Formu1a.uno. “I was in the World Endurance Championship and the Formula 1 Championship. So why couldn’t you do just one race?
“I did it in 2018, and the calendar there was also very long,” Alonso added.
The more you race, the better you are, says Alonso
Alonso is someone who has made racing the most important part of his life. Often, when there is a break in between F1 races, we see the 41-year-old spend his time karting in order to stay sharp. According to Alonso, he does this to stay at the top of his game. This is a philosophy he likes to keep in mind while also thinking about racing in other series.
“You already know my opinion. The more you race, the more you drive, the better you become,” he said in the same interview. “Rather than being at a restaurant or at a beach. If you are behind the wheel, that is an advantage for your career.”
Alonso is currently having his best season in F1 since 2013. He has five podium finishes in seven races, and is P3 in the drivers’ championship with 99 points to his name.
