“Quite a race to remember”: Fernando Alonso points to his personal favorite F1 drive

Fernando Alonso has recently opened up on what he considers his personal favorite race of his Formula 1 career. The two-time world champion opted for a race from the 2010 season as the favorite of his career.

Alonso, who spoke in an interview with Maaden, a sponsor of the Aston Martin outfit, detailed his memory of his outing during the 2010 Malaysia Grand Prix. The Spanish driver explained how, despite the challenges faced during the race, it remains his favorite of his illustrious career. He said (quotes via F1):

“There are many races that people were not maybe aware of. It was Malaysia, Sepang [in 2010], where I had a problem on the gearshift. The gearbox was broken, semi-broken, the clutch had a problem – the gears went up okay, but not down.”

Further explaining what unfolded during the Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit, Fernando Alonso, who was then driving for Scuderia Ferrari, continued:

“Around halfway through the race, I tried to downshift into Turn 1 and from seventh [gear] I went to only fifth instead of second, so I did Turn 1 in fifth, I lost time, and I realised in the following corner that there was a problem.”

Alonso also detailed how he had to endure several laps with what was an improvised strategy through the race in Sepang. The 44-year-old stressed how he devised a way to downshift his gears through the event.

Fernando Alonso would sadly see his race end ahead of the chequered flag, as his Ferrari F10 challenger would suffer an engine failure with a few laps to the chequered flag. The Spaniard had qualified for the Malaysia race in 19th place and battled through his engine problem until lap 54 of 56, where his Ferrari engine gave way to the numerous problems he was managing through the race.

Fernando Alonso recounts the Ferrari engineers’ reaction to his incident

Fernando Alonso also recounted how the engineers at Scuderia Ferrari reacted to his management of the several problems he faced during the Malaysia Grand Prix. The Aston Martin driver detailed how the engineers at the Maranello-based outfit were pleased with how quickly he figured out the solution to the problem with his car.

Sharing his thoughts on the Ferrari pitlane reaction to his race in Sepang in the same interview, he continued:

“The engineers said [after the race], ‘I don’t know [how] you came [up] with that solution that fast, because that could be a solution, but you did it like in 13 or 14 seconds, the second corner after you had a problem. I said, ‘I hate losing, I hate retiring the car, I will try everything before accepting that we have to DNF.”

Reflecting on what appears to be a memorable outing in Sepang, Fernando Alonso continued:

“[It was] completely anonymous, no one will remember that race, but the level of energy that I had to put [into] that race, the level of concentration, focus, and [to] instinctively come out with a solution [to] a problem that was never tested or experienced… I think it was quite a race to remember.”

While the Malaysian race proved a torrid outing for Fernando Alonso, the 2010 campaign proved to be one campaign he would want to forget in a hurry, as he witnessed the championship title slip from his hands on the final day at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to Sebastian Vettel.

The then Ferrari driver found himself stuck behind Renault’s Vitaly Petrov for much of the race, and could only finish in seventh place as Vettel clinched race victory, which translated to him winning the title by four points.