Alonso Still Feeling Numb
Fernando Alonso has admitted that he is having trouble coming to terms with his World Championship success


The Renault driver, who clinched the title with third place in the Brazilian Grand Prix, believes it will take him a few more days to fully accept his success.
"I still find it hard to believe that it is true, that it has actually happened," he said on Tuesday in a team interview. "I can't really feel anything at the moment but I think it will come slowly.
"I have achieved my dream, the thing I have been fighting for since I was three years old. This is the maximum in my life, but I have not had time to think about it yet. Slowly, moments from my career will come back to me. I am sure it will happen in the next few days."
Alonso, who arrived in England this morning from Brazil, has also expressed an element of surprise about how big the celebrations in Spain were - with the Brazilian GP proving to be the country's most watched television programme of the year. His hometown of Oviedo also threw a massive party on Sunday night.
"I was told that 50,000 people celebrated my win! They were dancing in the fountain in the city centre, and even in Madrid as well," he said. "I am very proud of that and want to say a big thank-you to all of them.
"I have missed a lot of things in life, made a lot of sacrifices and worked very hard. The people and their celebration are the reward for that. I like being a showman too: I drive so that people can enjoy watching the races. And I haven't finished yet!"
And with the fight for the Constructors' Championship not yet resolved, Alonso has warned rivals McLaren that he will likely be more aggressive in the final two races of the year than he has been in recent races.
"I don't think that things will change so much, because the gap to McLaren is still big," he added. "But if you think about when Montoya overtook me in the (Brazilian) race, I didn't take any risks on Sunday.
"It will be different in Suzuka. I will be more aggressive with how I use the engine, the tyres, every part of the car."

Faure: Breakaway Series Still Possible
Red Bull Ask Michelin to Supply Minardi

Latest news
Top 10 Brabham drivers ranked: Piquet, Lauda, Gurney and more
Its 30 years since the Brabham team started its last world championship grand prix. Time to pick out the best drivers of the once-great Formula 1 squad.
Why F1 2022 tech isn’t all about porpoising and sidepods
Once fears over identikit Formula 1 cars were allayed by visibly different approaches to sidepods and floors, other novel design features have cropped up around the rest of the car.
Bottas feels greater "human effect" on F1 car performance at Alfa Romeo
Valtteri Bottas feels he is able to have a greater "human effect" on the performance of his Alfa Romeo Formula 1 car compared to what he found at Mercedes.
Norris: Long-term McLaren F1 deal allows for better work-life balance
Lando Norris believes his long-term Formula 1 deal with McLaren has allowed him to strike a better work-life balance and relax more away from racing.
The 10 stories to watch out for across the rest of the 2022 F1 season
It’s 13 down, nine to go as the Formula 1 teams pause for breath in the summer break. But what can we expect to happen over the next three months from Belgium to Abu Dhabi? Here's the key storylines to keep an eye out for the rest of the 2022 season
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior