THE F1 INVASION

WHY F1 STARS ARE DOING LE MANS Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button are just two of the F1 racers on this year’s grid

There may only have been one Spanish winner in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, but Fernando Alonso knows all about the big race. He couldn’t help but, because one of his oldest friends in motorsport, Antonio Garcia, has been a regular at the French enduro since 2006.

“We’ve known each other for maybe 28 or 30 years,” explains two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso of the Corvette Racing man, who will be making his 12th start at the 24 Hours this year. “I follow him every time and we talk a lot.”

Alonso admits that he started thinking about racing at Le Mans some time ago, long before the idea of trying to emulate Graham Hill by winning the French enduro, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 entered his head. He says “Le Mans came first”, and then thoughts of the triple crown began to grow.

“From about 2013, it was an idea I had in my head and I was close on a couple of occasions when I was at Ferrari,” he says, “but Ferrari was not very keen on sharing me with another brand. Then in 2014 I was waving the flag and in 2015 I was 99.9% certain to drive.”

Those are references to his invite to be honorary starter and how close he was to a seat in Porsche’s third 919 Hybrid. That spot eventually went to Nico Hulkenberg, who claimed victory with Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, after contractual wrangles prevented Alonso from taking up the offer.

Alonso is now realising his dream, but he won’t be driving for Toyota just at Le Mans. He is contesting the full eight-race World Endurance Championship superseason that encompasses both the 2018 and ’19 editions of Le Mans.

“The original idea was just to do Le Mans,” says the Spaniard of his initial conversations with Toyota. “But if you do Le Mans, Spa is sort of mandatory [as a warm-up]. And then with the changes to the calendar with the

“It was an idea I had and I was close on a couple of occasions at Ferrari” FERNANDO ALONSO

superseason, it was only three more races this year. A full season became more attractive to me and to the team because they wanted continuity of the driver line-up. It worked for both sides.”

It also gives Alonso two chances to win Le Mans in his bid for the unofficial triple crown of motorsport. That, he insists, wasn’t a motivating factor.

Yes, he wants to win Le Mans, but he also wants “to try to be world champion”.