"I had to sacrifice other things in life" - Fernando Alonso opens up about dedicating himself to follow his F1 passion

Fernando Alonso has disclosed that he was pushed to make a few sacrifices in his personal life before making a return to Formula 1.

After growing frustrated with an uncompetitive McLaren car, Alonso left F1 at the end of the 2018 season. He competed in events like the Dakar Rally and the Indianapolis 500 before returning to the sport in 2021 with Alpine.

At the end of 2022, he switched to Aston Martin and this year, at the age of 41, he is the oldest driver on the grid. Shedding light on his time away from F1 and his return to the sport, Alonso said (via racingnews365):

"I keep motivated always to compete, even when I tried to stop Formula 1 in 2018, I couldn't make it and I was in different cars every weekend, with the World Endurance Championship, or Dakar, or Indy or whatever."

He added:

"When I came back to Formula 1, for sure, I decided that I had to sacrifice other things in life and dedicate myself for another period of time, maybe three, maybe five, maybe seven years to the sport. There are no secrets, you dedicate your life to your passion and you know your body better as well, so you train better, eat better and so make your career longer."

Fernando Alonso is in good company when it comes to drivers active on the F1 grid in their 40s. Recent years have seen the likes of Kimi Raikkonen (42) and Michael Schumacher (43) race into their fifth decade.

The Spaniard, however, has "no concerns" about his age. Fernando Alonso said:

"I'm privileged to still drive here better than ever. I have no concerns on age yet, I will be the first to feel it, when l lose something, when I miss something while driving or not being motivated to travel or to wake up in the morning and train or just come here for testing."

He added:

"So far, I only see advantages because I know the car, I know the tyres, and some of the circuits we will drive this year, I've been driving already in the past, so I don't see a disadvantage."

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Fernando Alonso expects Aston Martin to develop car as 2023 season progresses

Fernando Alonso expressed his confidence in the team. He stated that they could get even better with development throughout the year as the current version of the car is very 'basic'.

He said (via motorsport.com):

“I think the car that we have now is just a very basic car that we launched and we start the season with this completely new concept. I think there is a lot more to come in terms of development with this project, so I'm optimistic for that.”