At 41, Fernando Alonso has been racing in Formula 1 almost as long as some of his competitors have been alive. The two-time champ has completed more Grand Prix laps than anybody in history—and has no plans to retire.
Before making his return to F1 last year for Alpine, the Spaniard took a two-year sabbatical to explore other racing disciplines. It didn’t take him long to enjoy success: He won the 2018 and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship. He also tested his driving prowess in IndyCar and the Dakar Rally. Given all that he accomplished and experienced before these triumphs, he believes he’s only grown as a driver and is much better now than when he stepped away from Formula 1.
GQ spoke with the racing legend on how consistency has helped his longevity, how he’s managed to navigate a demanding schedule and the advice he imparts to all young drivers.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
GQ: Has your approach to dieting changed any during your career?
Fernando Alonso: Not as much as you would probably imagine after 21 consecutive years at the top level. This is a sport that is constantly evolving because of technology, car development, and materials, and there’s been a lot going on in those 21 years. But the driver part of it hasn’t changed as much. We still drive as fast as possible with every car that we have. Even when we’re doing our go-kart racing, we’re still driving as fast as we can.
That kind of routine for nearly 365 days a year, as fast as possible, being in a physical condition optimal for driving? Obviously, we have to train and do a lot of things on the neck. Generally, I think that the more we drive, the better we feel while we’re driving. That’s probably why the diet hasn’t changed much in the last 21 years.
As the cars have gotten faster, have you had to alter your training some to handle the physical demands?
No, not really, I think it hasn’t changed much over the years. At the beginning of the 2000s the cars were maybe more demanding physically because they were lighter and faster in the corners. Nowadays we run with a full tank of fuel on Sundays, so it’s a little bit slower during the race, while on Saturdays it’s obviously much faster because we have less fuel. But physically it hasn’t really changed for me.
A lot of the food is taken care of you during the season, but do you allow yourself to eat outside of what’s the norm for you?
I allow myself some time to be a little outside of my normal routine, especially during summer or winter break. Obviously when we’re not racing I behave like a normal person. On different holidays where you can not eat what you like, you have to eat what’s available and sometimes it’s not maybe the healthiest of food.
During the weekend, we travel with our own cooks. The kitchen always has the same people here and they know exactly what our food routine is on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They know what times we have to eat. For example, on Sunday, maybe the race is at 2 or 3 and we have lunch around 10:30 in the morning. It’s a lot more of a controlled environment and there’s not much freedom from ourselves.
But during the holidays, I’m a very normal person. I’ll have some food delivery at home. It might be pizza, burgers, burritos, or whatever is available. It just depends on the time of day and where in the season we’re at. There is not too much going out to different restaurants because you’ll be recognized a lot. I’ve tried to limit that as much as I can.
We typically only see what you guys do on Saturday and Sunday. What does a week look like for a Formula 1 driver?
Normally, a typical week will start on Monday with physical preparation. It would be 2 to 3 hours of cardio and a little bit of gym, especially on the neck and the other parts of the body. On Tuesdays, we normally fly to our factories and drive in the simulators for pre-race preparations. We’ll do that with our engineers and maybe change a few things with the setup and try a few experiments to be ready for pre-practice on Friday. On Wednesdays, we’ll travel to whatever country we’re racing in. You’ll do a little bit of an easy routine at the gym to sweat a little bit and get some good sleep. When it hits Thursday, that’s when the weekend really starts. Right now, we’re in France and there are a lot of meetings, race preparations, media, and marketing activities. There are a lot of things going on that are not on the track. Friday is pre-practice. Saturday is qualifying and pre-practice and Sunday is the race.
What would you say are some of the things you've done that have helped you have such a long career in such a demanding sport?
I think with time you learn where to spend energy and where not to. Formula 1 is very demanding. The calendar is brutal from February to December. There is no stopping—you’re constantly traveling. When you are younger, you lose energy some time in things outside of the car. Maybe you pay too much attention to different things that aren’t very useful for your own performance. Media attention, marketing events, and all of these things? I try to reduce as much as I can and be as efficient as I can.
I try to regroup those days in a week and maybe have no events in a few months, so I can concentrate on my performance. For me, I had two years off where I stopped Formula 1 and tried different things—Le Mans 24 Hours, Indy Car. I needed that break so now I can go for a second chapter in Formula 1 fresh mentally and also physically. To have one or two sabbatical years was necessary.
How different was the training and preparation for Le Mans compared to Formula 1?
It was very different. In a 24-hour race, you prepare your body and mind because of how demanding it is. Formula 1 is searching for perfection, and then you just try and repeat that for 50-plus laps on Sunday. Endurance racing is just constantly lapping cars, the unique strategies, the prototypes, the different cars and you constantly meet different people on the track at different laps for 24 hours. It’s very demanding with the level of concentration. But the food routine and training were very similar compared to Formula 1. You just need to repeat that very often because in 24 hours, you’re going into the car about six times. It’s like repeating six mini Grand Prix over 24 hours. In terms of food and rest, you try to do the best you can.
It’s a different kind of motorsport. You share the car with two other teammates, which is different than Formula 1 where you're alone in the car. I loved those experiences because it made me grow and become a more complete driver. When you’re just doing Formula 1, you don’t see many other philosophies of racing. They are as good as Formula 1 — just different.
What are you eating on the day of a race?
A small meal typically a few hours before the race. It's usually a pasta dish with some fruit afterwards and some still water.
What are you doing right after a race for recovery?
Unfortunately, right afterward, we have some media commitments right after you remove the helmet [laughs]. Then we have meetings with the engineers just to debrief what happened during the race. So 3 or 4 hours after the race we’ll calm down, and I prefer to travel home that Sunday after the race. I love to sleep at home and not in a hotel. Normally, we eat a healthy dinner to recover and have a good sleep. Monday morning is about seeing how you feel. There are some races that are more demanding than others and until Monday morning, you really don’t know how stressful the race actually was. Sunday, you still have a lot of adrenaline, and everything might seem ok. Monday, you’ll know if you need to rest one more day or if you can train.
Out of all the stops on the Grand Prix schedule, what would be your favorite country to eat in and why?
I would say Japan. I like Japanese culture and Japan in general and I like that race. When we head to Suzuka, we always have nice places we like to visit and some favorite restaurants there. I would pick that location any weekend.
What is your message to younger drivers who dream to have the run in Formula 1 that you've had?
I think it requires some discipline for sure and some self confidence that you need to build over the years. I normally advise younger drivers to have fun. It’s a very difficult environment with a lot of competitive people, competitive teams, a lot of responsibilities, sponsors, and a lot of pressure. If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, I think your performance will suffer from that. There are a lot of things going on off the track that can compromise your driving when you sit in the car and you close your visor. But if you’re able to enjoy what you do, that’s not on your mind when you’re driving.
I see a lot of kids starting motorsports with a lot of pressure from their parents to become champions and make it to Formula 1. I try and recommend stopping that pressure and letting the young kids enjoy themselves and if they do, let them follow their dreams. If one day, they don’t enjoy it or it comes too much of a sacrifice, then pick up a racket and try tennis [laughs]. Don’t force the future because it becomes not fun anymore.