Fernando Alonso’s “Brilliant Performances” Ignored by Public, Spaniard Gets Real on His Racing Performance

Fernando Alonso has one of the longest-running tenures in Formula 1. He has raced for legacy teams like McLaren and Ferrari, and also for ones that are no longer present in F1, such as Renault and Minardi. The veteran has put up brilliant performances in the mid-2000s when he won the 2005 and 2006 World Championships. However, his run in the king class of motorsports ended when he left the franchise in 2018. Alonso’s hiatus from Formula 1 did not last long as Alpine succeeded in bringing him back in 2021.

Fernando Alonso has been back in the game ever since. In 2023, he switched to Aston Martin to fill the seat left by Sebastian Vettel. But upon his return, he hasn’t received the success that he had once had in F1. The Spaniard currently stays in the points for most of the Grands Prix but he fails to get to the front of the grid like the Red Bull, Ferrari, or Mercedes racers. Because of his not-so-good yet no-so-bad positions, Fernando Alonso recently noted that he lacks media coverage. Speaking at his latest interview, he revealed what he thinks about the way the drivers are shown on television during a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso unveils the sad reality behind F1 media coverage

A Formula 1 race goes on for over seventy laps, and for the most part, the cameras focus on the fights at the front of the grid. This means that while television viewers catch the fights between frontrunners like Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, they miss out on what the other drivers are up to. Thus, fans fail to notice many of the brilliant performances since they happen way down the grid where the cameras do not reach, as per Fernando Alonso’s interview with Diario AS.

The two-time World Champion further added, “Out of 24 races a year, six are close to perfect. Of those six, five go unnoticed by the general public, because they don’t even appear on television. On the other hand, there are also times when you have the right car and you’re always on the podium, or in the foreground, and you’re praised for races that had three or four flaws that went unnoticed.” In the end, the 42-year-old also delivered the sad truth behind the coverage of the F1 races.

He said, “You reap the rewards when you don’t deserve them, and you don’t reap them when you deserve them.” Fernando Alonso’s comment on people missing out on his brilliant races might come from the fact that he did not get enough praise after scoring a P6 position at the Canadian GP. While everyone was busy celebrating the Mercedes drivers’ third and fourth-place finishes, Alonso’s near-miss of a top 5 position went unnoticed.

Fernando Alonso’s Canadian GP performance turns up hopes

Fernando Alonso is currently the oldest racer on the current grid. But even with his vast experience, the current season’s results have not been great for the Spaniard. In the last few races before the Canadian GP, Alonso failed to come into the top 10 in Monaco and stood last in Imola. Moreover, Miami GP was also not a very good outing for him as he only scored 2 points, with a P9 finish. However, Alonso finally tapped into some secret power at the Canadian GP, resulting in him getting a sixth-place finish with 8 points for Aston Martin.

Currently, Fernando Alonso is ninth in the Championship Standings with 33 points to his name. He has grossly outscored teammate Lance Stroll who obtained a meagre 11 points till now. Despite him getting a respectable score from the nine F1 races till now, Fernando Alonso has hardly gotten any media coverage this year, except for when news broke about his new multi-year deal with Aston Martin.

With a new set of rules coming in in 2026, Fernando Alonso may have a chance to go for the topmost places on the grid. But the racer will be 44 by the time the new regulations arrive. Do you think, at such an age when most racers retire from Formula 1, Fernando Alonso will be able to deliver the performance that his fans expect from the two-time World Champion? Let us know in the comments below.