Racing
© Liauzh
Fernando Alonso says racing in Spain still carries "a huge responsibility" because so many fans came to Formula 1 through his rise, leaving him with the feeling that they were following him almost more than the sport itself.
Speaking ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona-Catalunya, the Aston Martin driver said he is proud of that connection but also aware of its weight. "I am very proud. I feel a huge responsibility to have an entire country following me almost more than the sport itself, and to know that people maybe depend on my results to have a good afternoon," Alonso said, comparing it to football supporters caring most about their own club's result.
That relationship, he explained, was shaped by how different Formula 1 looked in Spain when he was growing up. Alonso said the category felt out of reach when he was karting and that he and his family saw his future more realistically at regional level, or perhaps working as a mechanic rather than becoming a professional driver. At the time, he said, there were very few Spanish drivers to look up to. Carlos Sainz Sr. was the main national reference while winning in rallying, and Alonso recalled being invited to sit alongside him during an exhibition in his hometown. Internationally, Ayrton Senna was his biggest inspiration.
Even when Alonso was getting closer to the top, Formula 1 still had little traction in Spain. He said there was so little domestic interest around his debut that his parents watched his races on a German television channel. The shift came once his results improved. "It seemed the whole country had discovered the sport and loved it," he said. Before reaching the grid himself, Alonso said seeing Pedro de la Rosa and Marc Gené in Formula 1 had also helped make the series feel less like something reserved for an elite and more accessible.
The pressure that came with that boom was clearest, he said, at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix. Alonso took pole at Barcelona, but under the qualifying rules at the time drivers started the race with the same fuel load used in qualifying. He said Renault had run very light, so while the country saw pole as a sign that victory was secured, he knew it was "not a realistic" picture of the race pace.
Alonso said he spent Saturday night fearing not defeat itself, but the reaction if he failed to convert pole into a win. "All the country was watching, thinking it was going to be an easy victory, and we were not going to win and we were going to disappoint a lot of people," he said. "My biggest fear was disappointing the fans and the country."
A major temperature change on Sunday swung the race in Renault's favor by helping its tires, and Alonso went on to win his home grand prix. He described it as "a nice surprise" and "a big relief," a moment that fixed the scale of the bond he had built with Spanish fans.
He said that support remains one of the strongest memories of his career, recalling friends from school and bus convoys arriving in Barcelona from Asturias, Madrid and Valencia when he was 23 or 24. For Alonso, that is why Barcelona still feels different: it is not just a home race, but the place where his results once turned Formula 1 into a national habit and where that burden is still felt most sharply.