Despite only two world championships to his name, Fernando Alonso is a behemoth figure of F1 and he lives up to his public image. Having a large fanbase, the Spaniard tries to fulfill his fans’ expectations as much as possible. For the same reason, Alonso built a museum in his name that also houses his first championship-winning car.
In an exclusive feature with his team Aston Martin, the 43-year-old revealed why he built a museum and a karting track in his name. Alonso mentioned that there was a lot of demand from people wanting to see his championship-winning car from 2005 and thus, he got the idea, to cater to this demand.
The Spaniard stated how Renault had gifted him the 2005 car and this led to a huge influx of friends and family along with other fans wanting to take pictures with it. He added, “I said, ‘OK, I will put this somewhere else because I cannot host everyone in my house!’ That’s how the museum started and now it’s a big success.”
Alonso built this museum in the Asturias region in Spain where he was born. The two-time world champion also constructed a kart track and a golf course to make it a complete facility named the ‘Fernando Alonso Sports Complex’.
From Fernando Alonso’s Museum in Asturias, Spain pic.twitter.com/hk30k8F54A
— MUSEO Y CIRCUITO FERNANDO ALONSO (@CircuitoMuseoFA) May 9, 2021
He stated that around 80% of the footfall to his museum comes from abroad. It has increased tourism in the Asturias region a lot, by being the second most popular tourist hotspot. Naturally, Alonso’s popularity in F1 for the past two decades is a major factor behind this.
Alonso also highlighted the importance of the karting track for the growth of Spanish motorsport. He said, “There are so many kids who are discovering motorsport and karting thanks to these facilities. It’s very rewarding.”
Having been racing in Spain since the ’90s, Alonso has an intricate understanding of the motorsport culture in his country and thus, he is trying to enrich it as much as possible from his end.
Alonso’s efforts for the young racers
Back in the day, Alonso was a raw talent who made it to F1 pretty much on his own with fewer backers. In 2024, he knows how young drivers have a lot more support from driver academies and development programs of F1 and F2 teams. He is also trying to curate talent at the grassroots level in Spain via his karting school.
Alonso said, “The ambition of my karting school is to give people the chance to take their first step into motorsport, discover karting, and have fun.” The 43-year-old mentioned how parents can inculcate the hobby of karting and racing in their children like they do for football, tennis, and swimming in Europe.
From there on, if the kids have talent, they can look to further explore the karting scene to participate in races and once they get the winning feeling, it becomes a natural ambition to get into motorsports.
