Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso: More to life than F1

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Fernando Alonso says he is not desperate to win another world championship as he is learning about “different priorities” as he nears the end of his career.

The Spaniard joined McLaren from Ferrari over the winter, leaving his contract at Maranello two years early to be part of the new McLaren-Honda partnership from its first season. Despite a tough start to the season - allied to Ferrari’s victory in Malaysia two weeks ago - Alonso says winning races is not his only motivation having been in F1 since 2001.

“Obviously I would like to win because we are sportsmen and we are all competitive,” Alonso said. “But also thanks to this age and thanks to the moment of your career you start to look for other things.

“I’ve been lucky to win championships and to win many grands prix and now sometimes I feel more happy and more proud of my job and my team doing the things that we are doing now than winning a trophy.

“It’s not the end of the world to win two or three grands prix, to win even a championship; things that are supposed to be the best reward for a sportsman. There are some times where you arrive to a maturity and a state of mind let’s say, there are different priorities in life.”

Alonso also says he sees himself ending his career at McLaren before moving on to pursue other passions outside of the sport.

“After 15 or 16 or 17 years of Formula One, whatever it will be, it’s enough. I will close the loop, I will close that part of my life. I started with a McLaren-Honda when I was three years old - a replica [made] by my father - I will finish with a McLaren-Honda but the real one in Formula One.

“That will be one third of my life with great experiences, with great memories and great friendship but normal life will start that day when I retire. I don’t think that I will see myself here as a manager or following the sport. That will be enough.”

By Chris Medland in Shanghai

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.