Fernando Alonso has made it clear his passion for Formula 1 remains undimmed as he heads into the final five races before retirement.
During the summer break, the Spaniard announced he would be calling time on his 17-year career on the grid, at least for now, and suggested a “poor” and “predictable” spectacle was the main reason.
Ahead of one of the final most iconic stops on the calendar this weekend at Suzuka, Alonso was asked how he is approaching each Grand Prix that passes.
“Every race now from the moment I decided to stop it’s just a celebration,” he said. “I can’t wait to go to Austin now and see again the place, drive around these cars.
“Maybe we’re not the fastest when you see the times at the end of the session but every lap feels fantastic.
“It’s not that I don’t love Formula 1 anymore, I still love F1, I still love these cars,” he insisted. “If I stop now it’s because I am 37 years old and I achieve all my dreams in F1 or more than what I dream of and now I have other dreams.
“It’s like when you do something in your life, you already did that, you try to find different challenges. I was extremely lucky here and I will try to find something else.”
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Sochi certainly wasn’t a great highlight on his farewell tour finishing 14th though it did follow one of his best races of the year in Singapore two weeks prior.
Alonso does think he will still have some chances to be competitive between now and Abu Dhabi.
“I think we will have better chances in Austin, for example, maybe in Brazil as well compared to this one so in terms of results this is not going to be the best of the remaining five,” he said.
As for his love for racing in Japan…
“I came before F1 for the karting World Cup as well here at Suzuka, so Japan is always a country that is so enjoyable to race because the fans make it so special and everything is special here,” Fernando revealed.
“I am ready to enjoy every minute of this weekend because it will be the last Suzuka. I am lucky enough that next weekend will be Fuji [in the WEC] so I will still have some fun with the fans and racing in Fuji will again be special.
“It’s definitely one of the best weekends despite if you’re retiring or not, all drivers will love to race here and for me, it’s the same.”