Alonso shrugs off F1 guidelines: 'I’m still driving the same way’

With over 400 races under his belt and a career stretching back more than two decades, Fernando Alonso has seen Formula 1 change in countless ways, but when it comes to how he races, the Spaniard says nothing's really changed at all.

Amid renewed scrutiny of F1’s racing guidelines and the FIA’s recent update on penalty procedures, Alonso has dismissed the idea that these tweaks – or previous driver standard prescriptions introduced in the past – have altered the core of how drivers go wheel-to-wheel.

In short, he says he’s still the same hard-nosed, instinctive racer he’s always been – no matter how thick the rulebook gets.

Instincts Over Guidelines

“I don’t think it has changed that much. For me, I am still driving more or less the same way I have always driven,” Alonso told reporters in Austria last weekend, quoted by RacingNews365.

“Yes, it is regulated, and sometimes different from season to season, but there are always some tweaks and adjustments.”

For Alonso, the rules are like background noise – present, but not dictating his every move. Instead, he leans on the raw instincts that have fueled his two world championships and 32 race wins in the sport.

The Aston Martin driver sees the guidelines as something drivers naturally “exploit” to gain an edge, but he’s not poring over them mid-race.

“We know the rules more or less when we start the season, and you try to exploit them when you have the possibility, but I don’t think much has changed in the last two decades,” he noted.

“You end up driving naturally in the car, and follow your instincts when you make an overtake, and when you are defending or something is happening, you then have a rule book from someone outside the car who can judge and make a decision, but I don’t know how other drivers do it.”

Drivers too Focused on the Moment

Alonso’s approach is refreshingly straightforward: attack hard, defend harder, but don’t overthink it.

“As I said, when I’m in the car defending, I am defending the same way I did all my career, and when I’m attacking, I do it in the same way, and I am not thinking about this page [in the guidelines] says this about Turn 4 and then I will go for that,” he explained.

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It’s classic Alonso – trusting his gut over a stewed-over strategy, even if it means occasionally ruffling feathers or collecting a penalty.

The 43-year-old also pointed out why drivers sometimes clash with the rules: they’re too focused on the moment.

“I try to overtake and not have any contact because my car can then be damaged and score no points, and when I defend, I try to defend hard, but at the same time, you cannot lose time because they might be on a different strategy or it is not your race,” he explained.

“Some of the things that are happening are just because you don’t have a full picture of the race situation, and you are just focused on that specific battle, and sometimes, it is better to lose a battle, but win the war.”

Wise words from a driver who’s fought more battles than most – and won his fair share of wars.

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