Fernando Alonso has revealed a large change to his lifestyle, made partly to boost his performance at Aston Martin, but mostly to improve the quality of his life. The illustrious Spanish driver, with a career spanning over two decades and decorated with two world titles, has undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of his diet as a move to improve his physical condition.
Alonso, who first broke into Formula One in 2001 and quickly rose to fame by becoming the youngest-ever champion at age 24 with Renault, is no stranger to the grueling demands of top-tier motorsport.
Despite his formidable track record and experience in various racing formats, recent struggles with his physical state have prompted him to reassess his approach to his personal nutrition.
“I don’t eat much in general. Pedro de la Rosa eats like three people,” Alonso joked. However, he had begun to feel the negative side effects of a normal diet.
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“Eight or nine months ago I started to stop eating meat and fish,” Alonso revealed to DAZN. “I felt sick or I felt too heavy in general, digestion took a little longer.”
Now, primarily following a vegetarian diet, Alonso explained:
“Let’s say that without being too strict I think I have a vegetarian diet.”
Alonso’s transition to a vegetarian diet is part of a broader strategy to seek marginal gains on-track. Despite a storied career, his current standing in the driver rankings places him ninth, reflecting ongoing challenges with Aston Martin’s car performance.
In the aftermath of the recent Italian Grand Prix, Alonso did not mince words about the car’s limitations.
“I think the car today was ready to be sixteenth or seventeenth? We have almost no strengths and that makes the races difficult for us,” he observed. “But we have to keep fighting to come back stronger. Let’s see if there is an answer, some action, not always coming with the same car,” Alonso said.
Despite these hurdles, Alonso managed to finish the race in eleventh place, an outcome he found frustrating given he was only one place away from bringing home points.
“Then, in the end, we finished eleventh,” he noted. “It hurts enormously not to have taken any points by a single second in the race. But eleventh is a hell of a lot more than we deserve. It is what it is,” Alonso concluded after the race.
“It was a difficult race. We optimized the pace as best we could, but we had problems with the pace of the car on track today,” Alonso admitted.
