Fernando Alonso and extreme competitiveness in his daily life: “I also hate losing off the track”

Fernando Alonso It is synonymous with competition. He doesn’t want to lose, wherever it is, even outside of F1, where at the moment he doesn’t have a car to win, but he fights every weekend to get his car as high as possible. If you have a car that is 10th, you want to be 8th, and if you have a car that is 15th, you want Top-10. It was Alonso and he delivered that speech as the best possible advice to the pilots of his representation agency. A14 Management.

Those who don’t know him might think this is an athletic cliché. But it is true, very true. And it is in all aspects of life, as Fernando Alonso himself acknowledged in the official F1 podcast, ‘Beyond the Grid’where he talked about the milestone he reached at the Mexican F1 GP this weekend, something no one else had done: reached 400 F1 Grand Prix. He reached that round number at the highest level, after several races putting his car in positions that neither Aston Martin nor the F1 specialists imagined, higher in the classification than any guess.

“The truth hasn’t changed much, I am the same super competitive boy as always. I am in everything, also outside of racing,” argument.

When the host of the aforementioned program challenged him to play paddle tennis, Alonso showed his massive competitive genes in all areas. Even with a ‘pachanga’ racket in hand. “You won’t stand a chance”he said to her. “Do you want to beat me or destroy me?”the moderator asked him.

“I would do everything possible to cause maximum pain to my rival,” he said with a laugh. “Sometimes, I have to accept that I’m not going to win. If I don’t win, I’ll put you on the list of people I can’t beat and I won’t be able to play paddle tennis again for months, until the time comes when I’m able to rise my level and if I know I can’t beat you, maybe I won’t play with you anymore.”he declared.

Clear examples witnessed by MD

Perhaps there are people who may think that Alonso is just joking and exaggerating to get into the presenter’s game. But nothing could be further from the truth. MD has witnessed its massive competition on many occasions. One of the most notable was the 2019 6 Hours of Spa of the World Endurance Championship with Toyota. A few minutes after finishing a very difficult race, where it snowed many times and where the weather changed many times, far from thinking about going home to rest, he seemed to be worried about MD and others more Spanish media about his next challenge: I’m thinking about a kart race I have to do in Asturias! “There is a team that is going fast, we have to win… we have to win,” he repeated, surveying his rivals to the surprise of the press present. In fact, some smiled thinking he was joking. Alonso responded seriously: “It’s not a joke. You have to win no matter what.”

In that sense, a person close to Alonso told MD that in one of those races that Alonso competes in karting as a team with his great friends, including Pedro de la Rosa, Alonso does not rest at all . What’s more, he stands on the wall, looks at the time screen, and if someone doesn’t go as fast as they should, it’s not unusual to shout: “get off, get off the kart.” It’s like an F1 GP is being held.

He always wants to win. Anywhere and against anyone. Even the marbles. He lives everything passionately and if he does something he does it to be the best. And as Alonso himself admits, he hates the feeling of not winning: “I just hate losing, I’d have a bad night if I lose.”

Another example from the World Endurance Championship is the enormous competitiveness he has in the room he shares with his colleagues from the two Toyota crews. There he spent a lot of time waiting to ‘play’ with his console matesplaying Gran Turismo or other games. And his teammates emphasized how much Alonso wants to win, even at home. And so did playing cards. In that sense, Giancarlo Fisichella remembers MD years ago how much they drove their boss at Renault, Flavio, crazy. Briatore: “He and I played against Flavio Briatore and one of the physios. But we did some ‘trick’ or something. Flavio wasn’t happy”he said between laughs.

Alonso is a competitive animal. This is the only way to explain why at 43 years old he is still at the highest level in every sense and has not failed his vigilance, even if the intensity increases in all his training and his ambition remains intact in despite years of cars being out of his hands. The winning and competitive mentality is one of the keys to Alonso’s ‘eternal youth’ as ​​his physio, Edo Bendinelli, revealed to MD last year.

“The mental aspect is fundamental. The mind drives everything: the car, the benefits and the attention. The problem is that it is difficult to train the brain. That is why I say that, in a certain sense, training on the body is a little easier. If you keep it healthy, if you train it, it will always react and you will see its performance quickly. But training the desire, the energy, the cunning, is a very difficult thing. Either you, or nothing. And you have to create stimuli for yourself, you have to see them and deal with them. And this is something that Fernando has. He has an iron mentality. And it’s not easy, at his age and all his history”expressed Bendinelli in 2023 in this newspaper.

“What surprised me the most was his enthusiasm. The desire to still be here, to do things. Really, it’s incredible. And after many years, he continues to ask me things every daysaying that we have to do this and that. And look at all the parameters, the food, the recovery and so on. Yes, it’s their job, but there are people who would have finished their story in their place. He is not. It seems like this is his first season in F1. If his physique and his passion continue, he can continue in F1 as long as he wants.”added his physical trainer. And it will be. There is Alonso until he wants.