‘Fernando Alonso is not normal’

Fernando Alonso keeps defying the limits of what’s possible, signing for a new team for 2023 as he shows no sign of slowing down despite his age.



At 41 years of age, Alonso finished ninth in the drivers’ championships, however without his plethora of race retirements due to Alpine’s reliability issues he could have been much higher, possible securing the ‘best of the rest’ title behind the Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari drivers.



Pedro de la Rosa will be joining Aston Martin as an ambassador and advisor for 2023 and has spoken about how amazed he is at Alonso’s passion for racing despite never taking too much of a break away from racing since he entered F1 all the way back in 2001.



“My career is a bit special because I’ve been out and in and out and in,” explained De la Rosa.







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“And every time you’re out, you want to come back, and you also have like a break so it gives you more oxygen or energy to come back.



“But in his case, it is different. Fernando is not normal. He is an ultra-motivated guy.



“When he’s not in the race car on a weekend he calls me, he wants to organise a 24-hour race here in Dubai. I tell him, man, I mean, you’ve just finished the season, everyone wants to go on holiday. And all he wants is to go racing again in December.



“So that’s Fernando and I think that’s the beauty about him – he’s different. He doesn’t seem to have enough of motor racing.”



Alonso has grown frustrated at Alpine’s shortcomings in the reliability department, and has expressed his annoyance at the antics of his teammate Esteban Ocon, with the pair coming together on multiple occasions this season.



De la Rosa has previously worked with Alonso at McLaren and Ferrari, as he served under the Spaniard as a reserve driver for both teams.



The former F1 driver has told the media how impressed his is with Alonso’s attitude and motivation at his age, with Alonso being the oldest driver on the grid by quite some margin at 41.




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“What I’m really surprised about him is that, for example, yesterday I arrived here, and he was doing the seat fitting,” he said.



“And he smiled, he said he viewed his motivation as exactly the same as the first time I worked with him back in McLaren in 2007. Exactly the same approach – exactly the same.



“Preparation, motivation, attitude, expectations. He’s a natural born racer.”
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