F1 world champion Fernando Alonso claims 'tiredness' played VITAL role in retirement decision

Fernando Alonso

F1 world champion claims 'tiredness' played VITAL role in retirement decision

The two-time world champion has made a stunning revelation over his decision to retire from F1

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 23 August 2023 17:57

Fernando Alonso has revealed he was 'tired of travelling' when he announced his retirement from Formula 1 in 2018.

The two-time world champion is, of course, now back in the sport following a two year sabbatical and is currently enjoying his best season for quite some time.

Sitting in third in the world championship, the Spaniard has achieved six podium finishes from the first 12 races of the season with his new Aston Martin team.

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And speaking to the High Performance Podcast, Alonso revealed why he retired in the first place.

"When I stopped in 2018, I was tired of travelling and all of the things around Formula 1 and, as I said, not being able to compete for high things but I didn't have any perception or anything that maybe people thought about the sport or myself in general."

Turbulent last few years at McLaren

Alonso struggled with McLaren in the years leading up to his retirement

In the last four seasons before his retirement in 2018, Alonso returned to the McLaren team to give a shot at trying to return the team to its former glory.

Unfortunately, the car was uncompetitive in the early years of the hybrid era, leaving Alonso disillusioned with the sport and quickly losing interest. He decided to retire at the end of the 2018 season but has said nonetheless that the love he received from fans was exceptional.

"I saw a lot of things [when I stopped], first was the love that the people had towards my career and my job," he added.

"When I stopped, the only thing that I received when I was meeting people or a fan or people at the airport or in the hotels or whatever it was 'you need to come back, you need to come back' this kind of thing.

"So it was a surprise that they loved what we were doing because, for me, the last few years it was like we are nearly anonymous here, nobody is seeing us."