Fernando Alonso much more relaxed and focused than previous seasons

Fernando Alonso has explained how he is much more relaxed and focused than previous seasons, particularly in comparison to his 2006 Championship-winning season, which saw the Spaniard fight a season-long battle with the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher. Fernando Alonso has since failed to win another Championship.

As the Ferrari driver prepares to begin the all-important penultimate race of the season around the brand-new Circuit of the Americas, Fernando Alonso has explained how there is much less stress upon his shoulders in comparison to previous years, which have seen the Spaniard come close to clinching his third World Championship. In 2007, Alonso was pipped at the final race of the season by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Upon returning to Renault for 2008 and 2009, Fernando Alonso failed to have a car capable of challenging for Championship success. However, in 2010 he moved to Ferrari and immediately returned to battling for Championship supremacy. Despite once again loosing out at the last race of the season in 2010, Alonso has gradually become more laid back with his approach to each race, a factor which has unquestionably enabled the Spaniard to remain a Championship contender despite Ferrari’s rocky start to the 2012 campaign.

“I’m much more relaxed, much more focused.” Explained Fernando Alonso, “In 2006, I arrived at the last race fighting with Michael in Brazil. It was quite stressful, quite an intense weekend and not easy to get focused or sleep or things like that because it was a very emotional weekend. The year after, 2007, it was also a very stressful last race, three of us fighting for the World Championship: Lewis, Kimi and me and it was also a stressful weekend and not easy to do things.

“In these last two races, I feel, as I said before, completely normal. It’s good experience. It’s the fourth time we have been fighting for the World Championship up to the last race - hopefully - and you really feel the difference, being much more focused, concentrated, trying to do the job and understanding that if you do everything perfectly you have a chance; if you make a mistake you will lose the chance, so let’s focus on us.”

Sebastian Vettel has the opportunity to clinch the Drivers’ Championship this weekend at Austin, should the German driver outscore Fernando Alonso by 15 points after the race. If not, the Championship will go down to the final race at Brazil next weekend. After a highly entertaining and unpredictable season, Fernando Alonso is still unarguably capable of pipping Sebastian Vettel to the Championship, especially with his ice-cool approach.

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