Fernando Alonso is more likely to return to the Dakar Rally than the Indy 500 sooner or later, however insisted his “solely precedence” is to seize a 3rd Formulation 1 world championship with Aston Martin.
Alonso signed a brand new contract earlier this yr that retains him at Aston Martin’s F1 workforce till no less than the 2026 season, together with an ambassadorial deal that’s set to maintain him tied to the producer past his grand prix driving days.
Aged 43, the Spaniard says he’s nonetheless aspiring the win a 3rd world championship earlier than his time within the collection is up, along with his workforce having bolstered its technical ranks with Crimson Bull design legend Adrian Newey, Ferrari’s technical director Enrico Cardile and former Mercedes energy unit chief Andy Cowell in latest months.
He was additionally requested concerning the prospect of returning to Indianapolis to finish motor racing’s triple crown of successful the Indy 500, the Le Mans 24 Hours and F1’s Monaco Grand Prix, however poured chilly water on a fourth look at IndyCar’s headline occasion.
“I tried Indy 500 thrice and did not succeed. It is the one one lacking [from the triple crown]. However in the intervening time, it isn’t in my plan,” Alonso stated at an occasion of Aston’s sponsor Cognizant.
“I am very, very centered [on] Formulation 1 now. For the following two or three years, I need to win the third world title. That is my first and solely precedence in the intervening time.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Workforce, settles into the automotive
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos
“After that, as a result of I shall be 45, 46, I feel the dedication that it’ll require to go to the Indy 500, the quantity of studying that I must redo once more… it is going to be just a little bit an excessive amount of. Or it is what I feel now, I can’t say 100%.”
Fairly than heading again to the Indianapolis oval, the two-time world champion stated he was more likely to have one other shot at successful the Dakar Rally, which he feels could be a much bigger assertion of his versatility as a driver.
Throughout his F1 sabbatical, Alonso completed thirteenth within the 2020 Dakar Rally with Toyota alongside five-time bikes winner Marc Coma, with a expensive crash on the tenth stage costing him hours.
“I feel my subsequent greatest problem would be the Dakar,” he defined. “If I can win Dakar, I feel it is going to be massively rewarding for me personally as a result of I can win in Formulation 1, I can win in endurance racing, win in Le Mans and Daytona, and if I can win in rally as nicely, it should imply lots for me as a driver.
#310 Toyota Gazoo Racing: Fernando Alonso, Marc Coma
Photograph by: A.S.O.
“You can not drive a Formulation 1 automotive the identical manner as a Le Mans automotive that has to do 24 hours to win the race, or the Dakar rally, the place it’s important to undergo the dunes and the gravel round Saudi. So, I needed to be taught and begin from zero in lots of these classes and encompass myself with one of the best drivers on this planet particularly on that collection, and be taught from them, and be humble.
“There isn’t any downside to simply accept that I had no thought drive a rally automotive, however [was] day-by-day enhancing and studying from them till I used to be in a position to compete within the hardest rally on this planet.”