23 years ago, Fernando Alonso took part in his first Formula 1 Grand Prix…

To pay tribute to this very long career which began 23 years ago, AUTOhebdo went back into its archives and found the first post-race interview of Fernando Alonso, then a very young driver for Minardi in 2001. Arriving 12th in his first Grand Prix in Australia on March 11, 2001, the neophyte was already hungry for success.

(AH n°1281 of March 14, 2001)

Fernando Alonso: “Rather disappointed with my race”

The performance - rather high-end - of the young Fernando Alonso on the boulevards of Melbourne would still have disappointed one: the person himself! Hungrier than ever, the Spanish hope wants results... and quickly!

A rather memorable adventure than this first Grand Prix... isn't it?

Rather yes ! Two weeks before the Grand Prix, there were only bare hulls at the factory. They barely had time to dress them, make two or three trips back and forth to Vairano – a track which is in fact just a line with a return – to make sure everything works, and send everything the material in Australia. In fact, I did the actual burn-in of the car on Friday during the first official test session. Everything had to be reviewed, including the ground clearance since the flat bottom scraped the asphalt. I spent the first hour taking care of all this and I have a pretty satisfactory setup.

For someone who had only done 300 km in a F1, it’s quite a nice introduction…

To tell the truth, it was not 300 but 200 km! One hundred kilometers with Benetton, other centers that I had already done with Minardi during last season. In fact, I only had 200 km of experience behind the wheel of an F1 car before this start.

This is therefore one more reason to be satisfied with your 12th place in the race…

Honestly, I'm rather disappointed with my race! On the one hand, I know that I must be happy because I achieved the main objective which was to go to the end of this first Grand Prix – an objective which delighted the members of the team. That said, I see above all that we missed a better result because of a “stop and go” which is not my fault. When I was in the pit to refuel, I pushed the speed limit button correctly, but the system did not work. Things like this must not happen again.

Physically, how did you finish the event?

No problem. Everything was under control. We'll see how it goes in Malaysia where it will be very hot. I hope that the ten days spent in Asia between the two Grands Prix will have allowed me to get used to the heat and humidity of Sepang. Personally, I would have preferred a thousand times to come back to Europe to do tests, but there were no plans. No more than between Malaysia and Brazil for that matter.

To conclude, this Australian attempt was rather positive. Being there was already the realization of a dream...

Yes, yes (the tone is without enthusiasm. Editor's note), but I already knew that I was in F1 before racing in Melbourne. Now what we need is to improve, to progress. I want results, real ones. In fact, I'm not very happy with my race, but I'm quite satisfied with my ranking in the tests. Honestly, given the zero degree of preparation we had, I didn't expect it. I had planned to be 21st, just ahead of my teammate.

Comments collected by Jean-Michel Desnoues

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