Interviewer: So what do we talk about, engines or eventails? [reference to the cyclist team he bought]
Alonso: [Laughs] You can talk about eventails for the moment.
I: What's up with this mess, that you had in your head for some years ago already?
A: Well, probably since 2008 we had already in our head the possibility of having a professional cycling team, the opportunity didn't appear back then. It aroused now, and there's a lot of hope of starting this project. A team very eager for making it work, with humbleness, and as I say, being able to do things right. Not only in the sportive side, also in a lot of things that we have learned these years in F1: image, professionality, structure... being able to carry this information to the team. And also bringing the best of cycling: training, discipline, all the values... into F1.
I: You see, cycling is so beat up lately, with a bad image in the public opinion. And then you go and step inside. Do you do it to go against the current as always?
A: [Laughs] Maybe. Nah, it's a pity all the scandals and errors that took place in cycling. But well, in the end it's not even in top 10 regarding doping cases, and that's not known either. In Tour de France last year there were 2400 doping tests. That doesn't happen in any other sport. Therefore cycling has been very hunted, yes, because errors that were made in the past, yes. And I hope that we will be able to talk about other cycling things, there are a lot of good ones.
I: You did your homework regarding all this, didn't you?
A: [Laughs] Well, I knew all this already, but nobody asked for it before.
I: I don't see you being into cyclist team car yelling to the riders "go, go, come on!"
A: Maybe in a mountain road [laughs], maybe I have to take the steering wheel for being able to follow them. Nah, the aim is to give all the work to the CEO and sportive managers, the people that know about cycling. I'm just a fan and practice cycling, but 100% of my time will go inside F1, as it's the thing that really fulfills me, gives me work, and probably the thing I know how to do better, the other thing I can't really do.
I: You know that in cycling the bike is not the important thing, but the person, the cyclist. If the guy is strong, wins. What a difference with F1, isn't it?
A: Well, yeah... in the end anyway everything is summarized in the budget. In a cyclist team, the more budget you have, the better riders and pairs of legs you have. In F1 it's a bit like that. We saw all these years with small teams, when HRT was around, with Marussia... they can't compete with big structures like Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren... And within big structures, there are little details that can make the difference: a given designer, a given philosophy to develop the cars... or some detail like a wing that can make you gain 3-4 tenths. It's clear that in F1 the material is more important, it makes much more differences. I wish it was possible to equalize it, with everybody racing with the same car, maybe being more spectacular. But it will never happen, F1 is also a technological laboratory that is interesting for the drivers to win, but much more interesting for car makers. Therefore the car maker that wins always has a new invention, that makes the essence of F1.
I: Sebastian Vettel has won the Tour de France, as a metaphore, the last 3 years. Evidently the "bike" that Sebastian is using helped him a lot. Would you like in the more or less far future to have the possibility of being with Sebastian in the same place, in order to have the same machine, fight against him, and really demonstrate if you are stronger or weaker than him? Because a lot of people say "he won 3 WDC's, there's nothing else to say".
A: Well, we will see what the future gives. Logically [thought pause], it's attractive to be in the same team than Sebastian right now, because as he is the last 3 years champion and is leading this 4th one, it would be a good thing to be able to beat him. It would take away a chip from your shoulder, or being able to put into practice all the confidence that we have in ourselves, I don't know if he...
I: But imagine being with Sebastian in the same team... the 3 or 4 years that he won, Alonso arrives to Red Bull or Sebastian Vettel arrives to Ferrari, you beat him the next year and you ruined those years, they would get diluted. But the opposite applies, if it happens and you don't beat him...
A: He would get reinforced and you would get damaged, it's a life and sport law. And as I said, let's see in the future, I don't know if he has intentions to come to Ferrari or not.
I: Well, he said he wouldn't mind sharing team with you. But of course, either him coming to Ferrari or you going to Red Bull seems complicated right now.
A: Seems complicated because of the car makers. Me going to Red Bull above all seems complicated, because I think that we all drivers agree that Ferrari is the legend and the best team. But it's true that when people talk about this driver not wanting to drive along this other one, or that they don't get along well... it's the complete opposite. If they ask us drivers, we would always like to drive along the best, probably because of the courage and inner self-confidence that we all have in that we can beat anyone. Sebastian, Hamilton, Button, me... anyone you ask will probably agree that we would compete against each other in the same team.
I: With his car, with his "bike", would you have won the last three years?
A: Nobody knows, these are always impossible questions. The clear thing is that they were better than us... in a technical level... [gets interrupted]
I: No, don't avoid it, the question is very clear. Would you have won or not, what do you think? We don't know what would have happened, but what do you think?
A: I think yes. But Felipe also thinks that he would, Pedro De La Rosa also thinks that he would, Marc Gene also thinks that he would... everybody, all we drivers think that we can, at least, take a shot at it.
I: Independently from the car, Sebastian is very good isn't he?
A: He's very good. Logically, you don't win 3 WDCs for the sake of it, or divine luck. I think you need to have some extraordinary qualities or skills, in order to support the pressure in certain moments, or to fight 10 months with an incredible consistency. Therefore, nobody is doubting that.
I: And you that are a winner, that always want to win everything... How are you bearing all these years, how do you stand it, are you not beginning to be fed up?
A: With patience...
I: But you don't have any patience
A: [laughs] I've been developing it, unfortunately. Because you know that your moment will arrive, sooner or later. You know that there are cycles, that go up and down. Right now in the upward cycle there is Red Bull. You know that they will go down. You don't know if it will be Ferrari the ones who will follow, but you try it. It's clear that we all want to win. But [thought pause], even if it sounds weird, being in Ferrari, is not winning the WDC, but it's the thing that gets closest. When you go abroad, or like in this summer when I was travelling in the middle East, everybody was stopping me in the street, and they would say "eh! Fernando Alonso, Ferrari's world champion!" They mix things, and think that driving for Ferrari means that you are world champion and that you won... Therefore it's not like when finishing 2nd you are at ease, but being in Ferrari you can summon better all this patience that you have to have.
I: [Uses an idiom phrase that means that even if he doesn't believe the explanation, it gets accepted. And continues asking] Have you ever lost the faith or hope that Ferrari will be able to give you a strong car, a quicker car?
A: Nah... No, but you know that you have to wake up. And the team in general, when one says Ferrari, I'm including myself, or I include the other driver, the test driver, the technicians, the mechanics... because in the end we are a team. We want to win, but when one year it's bad luck, the next year it's the double diffusser, the next year it's the blown diffusser... you say to yourself "next year it must be us the ones that find something that others don't have, in order not to play catch up". Therefore, it's not that you are restless, but you do have the hope of one year you being the reference:
I: I don't know if you saw this movie Rush that just got aired, the fights of James Hunt and Nikki Lauda... will they one day make a movie about Fernando Alonso?
A: I didn't have any... [laughs] fights.
I: [laughs] Don't tell me this.
A: ...of that type, or problems that big. I hope that they do...
I: Who would the bad guys be?
A: There are no bad guys here, here there are competitors and people that sometimes finish in front, sometimes behind. The sport in general, or the F1 in general, would be the thing that we could attack the most. Because there are things that we know that are not well organized here, or things that surprise you: certain decisions, certain rules, certain punishments. And that perhaps would be the most polemic part of the movie.
I: Is Monza the last bullet?
A: No, Singapore. I think Singapore. If we do bad in Monza it could be because of the aero configuration, as it's unique for this circuit, or at least we would try to think that's the reason, inside the team. If we go well, we can't get too much hope as when Singapore arrives and we have the standard car (the last time we used it was in Hungary and we were far from the best...). In Singapore I think we will have the real test for us, to say whether we did a step forward during summer and we can fight in the same level. If we see that's not the case, we need to focus in the 2014 car, which is a radical change, and driving the last races of this year 100%, but hoping a miracle or for the other to fail a lot. We wouldn't be able to try to win 3-4 consecutive races and cut the difference.