F1 2022: Alonso was already green for a day

cIt was 2002 when Fernando Alonso was furious at just being a Renault test driver, had time to try other things and test his Jaguar R3 on wet and windy Silverstone at the end of May. It was the first and only time in his racing career that he wore the classic British green for both Jaguar and its future team, Aston Martin. Of course, this monkey was kept in the museum.

Jaguar, led by Niki Lauda, ​​said the test was to provide them with a benchmark against which to evaluate their young drivers, and Fernando performed better than them and the officials.

At twenty, he completed 57 laps and cut Pedro de la Rosa’s time by one tenth to finish third, then Rubens Barrichello at Ferrari and Alan McNish (Toyota).

Alonso set a best time of 1:22.771 seconds, with De La Rosa at 1:22.811. The Lottery and Courtneys, who have proven themselves, were much too late, so Jaguar began talks to sign Alonso for 2003 and get rid of Eddie Irvine, whose best time the day before was 1:23.10.

It didn’t happen because Briatore had already promised him the Renault seat occupied by Jenson Button which allowed him to get the famous R23 with which he achieved first pole, fastest lap, podium and victory in Formula 1 the following year.

Alonso made some comments about his testing, in large part because both Renault and Jaguar asked him to keep it a secret. Nevertheless, the Spaniard showed his satisfaction with the British interest. “If they want me, that’s fine for me. Other teams have already been interested in me in the past, and that gives me extra value. What’s different this time is that I’ve been in a Jaguar and that’s why there’s been so much fanfare. I don’t think it affects my future. I’m thinking Only in Reno,” he said.

“The more I try in Formula 1, the better for me. It’s the fifth or sixth I’ve ridden and I’ve done really well. I’ve had the fourth time with 16 cars on the track and a car usually one of the last is to be happy. Morale injection and good my picture “.