Fernando Alonso tired of ‘very, very boring’ F1 press conferences

Same old, same old for the experienced Spanish driver

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Fernando Alonso has derided the constant expectation on Formula One drivers to offer soundbites to media, explaining that little changes day-to-day when they are preparing for each Grand Prix.

The 2021 season has drawn plenty of interest in terms of the battle for the driver championship, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen changing positions at the top on more than one occasion and fighting it out on the track with regularity.

But beyond that, it’s more of the same for the rest of the racers, feels Alonso, who pointed out that a similar approach, similar standings and similar objectives for the rest of F1 meant there was little point to the constant question and answer sessions he faced.

“It’s very, very repetitive,” said Alonso, quoted by Motorsport-Total.

“It’s not directed against you [the journalists]. It’s just that Formula 1 is very open to the media. We do a press conference on Thursday, Friday, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, on Friday at the drivers’ parade, on Sunday at the drivers’ parade and on Sunday after the race. And there’s nothing to say really.

“In principle, we can make the same statements for Qatar, for Jeddah and Abu Dhabi. I think the most interesting thing is the title fight with Hamilton and Verstappen.

“Everything else is very, very boring, very repetitive.”

Driving for Alpine this season, Alonso has clocked up 62 points to sit in 10th in the driver standings.

He has been unable to manage to add to his career tally of 97 podium finishes though, with fourth in Hungary being his best and eight of this season’s races seeing him finish between eighth and 10th - and despite calls from supporters backing him to get a top-three finish, he merely expects more of the same on the track as well as off it.

“I understand the fans at home, or my fans, because I’ve read some things that said ‘on the podium in Qatar’ or ‘it’s podium time in Qatar’. And you would like to answer ‘no, there is no podium’? We’ve done so many races and we’ve finished eighth sometimes, ninth sometimes. It will be no different in the last three races. I’m sorry to say that.

“Of course, a lot more than that happens. We still have a lot to do with the team and we are learning a lot of things for next year.

“We are also testing some things in the organisation for next year. So it’s very interesting races for us in this last part of the World Championship. But we’ll keep that to ourselves.”