What Does Fernando Alonso Feel About Michael Schumacher?

There was as a time back in the day where there was no Leclerc or Sainz and none can even heard of the names of Norris, Piastri, Albon, Hulkenberg or even Yuki.

Formula 1, two decades back in the day, was the playground of sheer greats such as the inimitable Michael Schumacher and alongside him, the rising names of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

So far back in the day was this that one had not even heard the name of the incredible multiple world champion- Sir Lewis Hamilton. Even Sebastian Vettel hadn’t yet arrived in the sport which he’d eventually paint spectacularly with four world titles.

And what would soon form the crowning moment of F1 back in the 2000s was the soaring rivalry between a master called Schumacher and a maverick called Alonso. The exciting Renault versus Ferrari tussles were incredible to watch and hard to keep off from.

But while Fernando Alonso is still very much with us and going strong as ever, the iconic Michael Schumacher remains away from the camera eyes- and rightly so- still recovering from a nearly fatal skiing injury that he sustained on a holiday.

However, that doesn’t mean that the evergreen Alonso, who’s decked in green racing overalls of his Aston Martin team, has forgotten about Schumacher.

Speaking recently with a motorsport content platform, the following is how the double world champion, Fernando Alonso remembered the great Michael Schumacher and even though, it would have seemed that his recollection was simple, it echoed the no nonsense Alonso style:

“Rival, rivalry, but an inspiration too.”

But that is not all that Fernando Alonso said

“Apart from being the toughest rival I’ve ever had, you have to remember that for any child you need a reference. Michael was already in F1 when I was karting, and just as I approached my debut in F1,” is how Fernando Alonso remembered the great Michael Schumacher, the German legend still convalescing from his injury that was sustained now what over a decade ago in France.

But it’s important to remember how Fernando Alonso recalled the times where he, as a youngster, competed with the legendary Michael Schumacher, who back in the mid 2000s was already at the peak of his powers.

The following is how the Oviedo, Northern Spain-born Spaniard recalled the driver rightly considered a titan of Formula one world:

“I was in Formula Nissan, Formula 300, where I shared the same tracks as F1, and Michael was all the races so I start to notice him – how he acts, how he responds, how he dresses, how he drives.”

But does Fernando Alonso consider Schumacher an inspiration?

“He is an inspiration that you take mental notes of and, suddenly, you find yourself wheel to wheel with him, fighting every Sunday,” Alonso explained. “It was very special. For years I had been preparing for that moment to arrive: always thinking ‘I have to improve at this and at this’. Little things that I was doing in 2003 and 2004, in the shadows. What happened in 2005 was not sudden, it had been a task of years. In motorsport you are always looking at 6 months or a year ahead.”