Alonso still gets excited

The years go by, the cars and the rules change, but Fernando Alonso still loves his job. It doesn’t matter how fast you go, as long as you’re on the limit,” he said after his first day of testing this season. “Ten years ago here in Jerez, maybe we were going ten seconds quicker than today, but the enjoyment is the same.

In fact, if I went out on track now in my Alfa Romeo Giulietta, I’d have as much fun, just as I did when I was a kid and as I do now, if I get into a kart, which is much slower than the speeds you reach in a Formula 1 car. It’s not enough driving on the simulator to get some feelings, you need to be out on track in a real car in front of the fans who have come just to support you: that’s real excitement.”

Fernando reckons the 2014 cars don’t require a big change in driving style: “There’s not much difference,” he explained. “A lot has been said about this, but the fact is that when it comes to what a driver has to do, not much has changed. Of course, now there are many more parameters to manage, for example the battery has to be charged, but we are used to that.”

The main aim of this test is to rack up the kilometres. “Every lap we do is important, with every lap you learn something and discover problems and opportunities,” continued the Spaniard. “The aim is to do a lot here and especially in the next two tests in Bahrain. The F14 T seems to have a good potential, but there’s a lot to do. The others? We have so much to do in our pit that there’s absolutely no time to think about what they are doing. From here to Melbourne, we must just concentrate on ourselves.”