Formula 1 has seen many great drivers. That being said, it is also a fact that their apparent greatness behind the wheel of an F1 car has pretty much always been limited by the car they’ve been driving. Be that as it may, in the entire history of this sport, there have only been a handful of drivers who have consistently outperformed the machinery they’ve been strapped into. Fernando Alonso is one of those few.

Lewis Hamilton, for example, is one the greatest driver this sport has ever seen. With a whopping 103 wins and seven titles, Hamilton is an established giant. Yet, given Mercedes’ struggles in the past couple of years, we’ve seen the 7x champion caught off guard many times. On the flip side of the coin, Alonso, 42, has driven mediocre midfield cars into spectacular positions relative to its performance potential. And he’s been doing it consistently, too. So, what marks the Spaniard apart from the other greats of this sport?

Fernando Alonso has built himself differently

The very first metric required is talent, no doubt. And Alonso has bucketloads of that. However, according to his Physiotherapist, Frabrizio Borra, the Spaniard has always had an advantage over drivers like Hamilton. In an interview with Autosprint, he revealed, “He has great basic talent, like [Michael] Schumacher or Hamilton, but DNA is not enough by itself.”

“Fernando has an absolutely scientific approach to his sport. He had it twenty years ago when I started working with him. We consult the best experts in each field and we propose and explain to Fernando the innovations in preparation. If he doesn’t accept it, we won’t do it.” [translated via Google Translate]

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Safe to say, Alonso has worked pretty hard to get to where he is today. But the question is; how hard?

Alonso’s rigorous routine revealed

The 42-year-old’s physio has revealed a startling truth about how and why he is able to perform at such a high level despite of his age. But Borra delved deeper into the Spaniard’s routine to detail the exact specifics of Alonso’s crazy fitness regime.

He said, “We are talking about memory, attention, decision-making speed, the ability to reason, selective intelligence, double reactions, reactivity. If you work on all this, you can improve neuroplasticity to combat brain aging. But it is something that you must start at a young age, not wait to realize that you need it at the age of 40.”

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Can Alonso win his 3rd F1 title into his forties?