Madrid, 19 December – Fernando Alonso’s last work commitment of 2011 took place this afternoon in the Santander Bank’s head office at Boadilla del Monte, near Madrid. Yesterday in Maranello, he was Father Christmas for the families of Ferrari employees and today the Spanish driver was dressed in the robes of one of the Magi kings as part of the end of year festivities with representatives of one the Scuderia’s major sponsors. Alongside Fernando were his two colleagues, Marc Gene and Pedro De La Rosa, much to the delight of the many children present, who all received a Scalextric kit as a gift.
Earlier, Fernando had exchanged seasonal good wishes with a group of Spanish journalists, as well as throwing in some pragmatic views on the Formula 1 season just ended and the one that will be getting underway shortly. “This is the time when one is always optimistic, but then we must wait for the start of the season to see where we really are. It’s true that in the past few days, there was a good feeling at Maranello and there’s an air of confidence about it,” said Fernando. “We want to reacquaint ourselves with the taste of winning that has eluded us for a while. Last spring, we made important changes to the structure of the technical part of the team and now we have adopted a new approach, a less conservative one, in the design of the new car. The philosophy behind the 2012 car is very different to that of 2011, especially in some key areas like suspension and aerodynamics. We know that Ferrari is burdened with the expectations of victory and if it does not happen, in the winter the papers devote page after page to the whys and wherefores as to how things can change, while the others have to make do with the crumbs in terms of media coverage. It’s one of the things that make Ferrari different to all the other teams.”
However, now’s the time to take it easy for a few weeks,” concluded the man from Oviedo. “Time to recharge the batteries and be one hundred percent ready for next season, which I expect will be much more of an equal fight than the one just gone. Red Bull will still be very strong, but I think they will have less room for improvement than us, as we were so far behind this year.”
In the morning, Alonso received a special recognition from the Autonomous Community of Madrid, who awarded him the International Prize for Sport. Fernando was presented with the award by the President, Esperanza Aguirre, during a ceremony at the Community headquarters.
When Fernando Alonso makes a public appearance in Spain, it always draws plenty of attention in the media: just look at the tens of thousands of spectators who packed the grandstands in Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona during the winter test sessions and the big crowd of journalists who headed for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro hospitality unit for the press meetings which took place on every day of track preparation for the World Championship. Today, the Iberian press, radio and television finally got the chance to see how they really measured up against Fernando in the arena that the man from Oviedo likes best, namely the track. The opportunity arose thanks to the Santander Bank, one of the Scuderia’s main sponsors, who took over Carlos Sainz’s karting facility in Madrid, organising an event in collaboration with the Spanish Automobile Federation. Fernando was the guest of honour, along with Santander’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Juan Manuel Cendoya and the President of the Federation, Carlos Gracia.
For the record, the “La Sexta” television channel took a clean sweep of the podium places, with Alvaro Garcia in first place, Antonio Lobato second and Jacobo Vega third, with Fernando not classified…
The event was also the scene of an announcement that the Bank is now a partner of the Ferrari Driver Academy, as well as supporting the Spanish karting championship for a three year period from 2011 to 2013. In recognition of the agreement, a very young Spanish karter, Victor Colome, winner of the 2010 Beca Santander Jovenes Promesas, is currently taking part, along with other drivers from the Ferrari Academy, in a course, being held at Maranello.
During the event organised by the Santander Bank in Madrid, Fernando Alonso obviously spoke at length about the weeks of preparation prior to the start of the World Championship, although he repeated much of what he had already said at the tests. “We will only really know where we stand compared to the others when we are in Melbourne,” said the Spanish driver. “At the moment, I am happy because we proved to have a reliable car. If all goes to plan, we will be in the group of teams capable of fighting for the title, along with Red Bull the reigning champions, McLaren, Mercedes and also Renault, who had already made a step forward towards the end of last season. Even Toro Rosso has made significant progress.”
As usual, tyres were centre stage. “From what we have seen so far, degradation is very significant, which means we will have races with lots of pit stops,” continued Fernando. “I’m not keen on that because I think this increased uncertainty does not favour the strongest teams: it’s as if in football, it was decided to have a penalty per team each half hour in which case Barcelona and Real Madrid would not be jumping for joy. However, the situation is the same for everyone: it will be important to be fastest because I don’t think we can make one stop less than our main rivals.”
On the occasion of the 2010 Gala Solidaria Santander in Madrid Fernando Alonso talks about his first season with the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and the outlook, explaining the changes regarding the 2011 Championship.
Madrid, 18 December – Fernando Alonso had one more official function to attend before taking a well deserved end of year break. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver was in Madrid today, taking part in the Gala Solidaria Santander 2010, an event organised as part of a social involvement campaign, promoted by one of the Scuderia’s main partners, which took place in the conference room of its head office in Boadilla del Monte, near Madrid.
Over a thousand people attended the party, of which around six hundred were children, who were the key to the event, as they had each brought along a gift that the Valora and Manos Tiendidas Foundations will hand over to other less fortunate children. “I am happy to see that so many presents have been brought here,” said Fernando. “From our side, I really hope to deliver them a present by winning next year’s World Championship.”
On stage alongside the Ferrari man, who also showed off his skill at card tricks, was the Santander President, Emilio Botin and both of them took part in good spirit in an unusual press conference where the questions came, not from the media, but from very young journalists in the making, who proved they certainly had an incisive sense of irony when for example, one of them asked both Botin and Alonso if they drank Red Bull to keep in shape. The question met with an immediate and good spirited and obviously negative response. Later, Fernando took part in a video interview which is available at formula1.ferrari.com where photos of the event are also available.
In the morning, the Spanish driver visited the Nino Jesus di Madrid hospital where, thanks to the efforts of the Fundación Abracadabra, some of the young patients were able to enjoy some time with their hero, playing electronic games and also taking part in some magic tricks.
For Fernando, this is now the start of a two week holiday which he will spend with his family and close friends, while recharging his batteries for the 2011 season. His next appearance will be on 10 January, when Madonna di Campiglio will be the venue for the twenty first edition of Wrooom, the event that for so many years now has kicked off the racing season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.
