At 41, Fernando Alonso has been racing in Formula 1 almost as long as some of his competitors have been alive. The two-time champ has completed more Grand Prix laps than anybody in history—and has no plans to retire.
Before making his return to F1 last year for Alpine, the Spaniard took a two-year sabbatical to explore other racing disciplines. It didn’t take him long to enjoy success: He won the 2018 and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. He also tested his driving prowess in IndyCar and the Dakar Rally. Given all that he accomplished and experienced before these triumphs, he believes he’s only grown as a driver and is much better now than when he stepped away from Formula 1.
GQ spoke with the racing legend on how consistency has helped his longevity, how he’s managed to navigate a demanding schedule and the advice he imparts to all young drivers.
GQ: Has your approach to dieting changed any during your career?
Fernando Alonso: Not as much as you would probably imagine after 21 consecutive years at the top level. This is a sport that is constantly evolving because of technology, car development, and materials, and there’s been a lot going on in those 21 years. But the driver part of it hasn’t changed as much. We still drive as fast as possible with every car that we have. Even when we’re doing our go-kart racing, we’re still driving as fast as we can.
That kind of routine for nearly 365 days a year, as fast as possible, being in a physical condition optimal for driving? Obviously, we have to train and do a lot of things on the neck. Generally, I think that the more we drive, the better we feel while we’re driving. That’s probably why the diet hasn’t changed much in the last 21 years.
As the cars have gotten faster, have you had to alter your training some to handle the physical demands?
No, not really, I think it hasn’t changed much over the years. At the beginning of the 2000s the cars were maybe more demanding physically because they were lighter and faster in the corners. Nowadays we run with a full tank of fuel on Sundays, so it’s a little bit slower during the race, while on Saturdays it’s obviously much faster because we have less fuel. But physically it hasn’t really changed for me.
A lot of the food is taken care of you during the season, but do you allow yourself to eat outside of what’s the norm for you?
I allow myself some time to be a little outside of my normal routine, especially during summer or winter break. Obviously when we’re not racing I behave like a normal person. On different holidays where you can not eat what you like, you have to eat what’s available and sometimes it’s not maybe the healthiest of food.
During the weekend, we travel with our own cooks. The kitchen always has the same people here and they know exactly what our food routine is on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They know what times we have to eat. For example, on Sunday, maybe the race is at 2 or 3 and we have lunch around 10:30 in the morning. It’s a lot more of a controlled environment and there’s not much freedom from ourselves.
