Alonso and his declaration of intent for the Hungarian F1 GP: “I hope we have fun”

In 2003, when Fernando Alonso achieved his first victory in F1, he set the “realistic goal of a Top-5 or a podium” with a team that had a plan to win more in the long term. It is inevitable, 20 years later, not to draw a parallel between the two cases and see the similarities. In 2003, their best chance to fight for something big was Monaco and Hungary. In Monaco he could not, but in Hungary the surprise came. This year, in the Principality he was close to pole position and victory. Now, in another circuit that should adapt to his car and reinforce the strong points of the single-seater, in the so-called ‘Monaco without walls’, the Spaniard is not talking about victory, but he hopes that his car will ” competitive” and it’s a good weekend: “I hope we have fun.”

“The first win is probably the main one for all the drivers. For me it’s a good opportunity this weekend, we have a little hope for the weekend after a little suffering in Austria and Silverstone, so hopefully this weekend will be better,” he argued in a press conference at the 2023 F1 Hungarian GP.

“I think the layout of the track and the characteristics of the track are very similar to the circuits where we performed very well this year, and I think that the fast corners and long straights are not the strong point of our package. “Austria and Silverstone were clear examples of that. So I hope we will perform well here again. Despite this, our competitors have improved their packages and they will be very strong here as well. It’s difficult, but I hope we can be happy,” he added. in the press room at the Hungaroring.

HIS FIRST SUCCESS IN F1, IN HUNGARY 2003

“It was a magical moment in my life, in my career as well, and that moment changed everything. We were very low on gas and maybe a Top-5 or a podium is possible and that I think is realistic goal. But we won the race. It was a little surprising.”

“You always remember your first win and it was like Brazil, where I won both titles. Budapest is one of my favorite cities and one of my favorite Grands Prix. Apart from that first win I have several great races here, like in 2006 when I started from the back (he came back from 15th place with an exhibition in the rain), I have very special races here”.

HE IS THE BEST HERE

“I also had some (mechanical) problems here. Especially in 2006 when I was leading the race (failed nut in the pit stop), or in 2007 when Lewis penalized me in the pit lane while on pole and I started 1st 10 and that championship then we lost by one point to Brazil and that was unbelievable. I’m always happy here, there are ups and downs and an unbelievable win, but I’m always happy.”

WHAT HAS CHANGED

“Especially, many things changed my life off the beaten track. Since then, I have had no privacy in my life for 20 years.”

WOULD YOU REPLACE HAVING PRIVACY FOR EVERYTHING YOU’VE ACHIEVED?

“It’s a complicated question. You always try to achieve your dream, which is to drive the fastest cars in the world, in F1 and since you were young in karts you dream of sitting here. But obviously you never weighed all the sacrifices you have . what will be done to get you here, the changes in your life, in the life of your family, when you come to F1. But I won’t change anything because it’s still your choice and you always try to succeed and reach your dreams, but things are probably more difficult than what you see on TV every Sunday. 20, 30 or 40 years of your life will change forever.”

WHAT HAS STAYED AS A PILOT OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS AND WHAT IS CHANGING

“Probably what has remained the same is that when you take the visor down on Sunday I still have the same motivation, the same desire to race. The formation lap, the start, everything from driving these cars, competing against the best drivers and teams in the world and trying to succeed is exactly the same as 20 years ago, I have more track experience so the way of preparing for the race with the engineers, the strategies, the wheels, it’s different now, the stress level is different now also , and Now you can imagine different scenarios that happen in the race and there are not many surprises in my head during a race. It is different, but my racing DNA is still the same. And I’m still happy with this job.”

CLASSIFICATION WITH A NEW FORMAT

“We have to use one type of tire in each qualifying session but it’s the same for everyone and it shouldn’t be something that changes too much. We have 11 sets of tires per driver instead of 13, so two sets of rubber for each driver there are many sets of tires that F1 can save. This is a reason why we must support this experiment and after this weekend we will look to the future.”

THE NEW WHEELS PREMIERE AT SILVERSTONE

“You have to keep analyzing it in detail in the following races. I’m not a fan of changing the rules in the middle of the championship, it’s like changing the ball in the middle of a tennis tournament, something like that. It’s what happens when you change the tires here, you change the rules of the championship. But at the end of the day it’s the same for everyone so we have to understand the tires as best we can and get their maximum. We have to wait for several races to draw conclusions. They seem to be similar, but we will have to wait and see”.

CHOICE AND TEAM CHANGES IN YOUR CAREER

“I would not change anything or regret anything. Nobody has a crystal ball to know how a team will perform next year. When I left Renault I joined McLaren and that season (2007) we fought for the title and when it comes to competitiveness it was a good move, a good choice. Then I went to Ferrari. I don’t think any driver refused the offer from Ferrari to join the team and we fought for three titles in the 5 years I was there. Then I joined McLaren -Honda , which was a project interesting and it didn’t work out ok it can happen in sport. And then I stopped F1 because I had too many things on my mind and too many challenges I want to try. It was a great moment in my career trying endurance, the Dakar, the Indy500 and with a lot of success too and I’m happy to be back in F1 which I have always considered my family, in Alpine, Renault, and the last decision in everyone’s opinion was the worst , and it was the best of my career, and that’s for you. It shows the difficulty of choosing a team.”