The pandemic and near-global containment changed the world’s habits from March 2020 onwards. But how do you keep racing enthusiasts, born to compete, locked up for months on end? For many F1 drivers, such as Fernando Alonso, the answer lay in simracing.
Some drivers were already familiar with the virtual paddock. But Alonso had never really got to grips with simulation before confinement.
In this article, I invite you to discover his track record, his team-mates and, above all, his setup on virtual tracks!
Fernando Alonso’s Simracing track record
The two-time F1 world champion was a latecomer to simracing. Although he had already formed a simracing team in 2017, which we’ll talk about below, he wasn’t yet an assiduous player. It wasn’t until May 2020 that Fernando Alonso took the bull by the horns and took part in his first race on the rFactor 2 simulation.
A few weeks after setting up his setup, he already had a fine list of achievements under his belt:
- 4th place in qualifying at Zandvoort (rF2), just 0.264 seconds off Jan Magnussen’s pole position. He had only received his simracing setup 12 hours before the event.
- Wins 2 Race Legends Trophies at Indianapolis , first on the main track, then on the reverse track (rF2)
- Wins 2 more Race Legends trophies at Silverstone (rF2)
- 5 consecutive victories on the Monaco circuit (rF2)
- Team victory at the 24h de Spa-Francorchamps(iRacing). His team-mates for this race were Rubens Barrichello and Tony Kanaan.
- Participates in the 24h of Le Mans (rF2) as a team with Rubens Barrichello and two simracers Olli Pahkala and Jarl Teien.
Darren Cox’s opinion of Fernando Alonso in simracing
Darren Cox is the man behind Fernando Alonso’s interest in simracing. He is also CEO of Torque ESport. Here are his impressions of Ferando Alonso on virtual tracks.
The most impressive thing about Fernando’s ESport performance is his motivation. At Torque ESport we were in charge of managing his team for the virtual 24 hours of Le Mans. I’ve never seen a real or virtual driver so motivated!
He boosted the team by helping his teammates, players he’d never met before. He was very friendly and supportive. In simracing, we also have engineers, and Fernando would give them feedback on engineering, debriefings and advice on car settings. He also talked about race strategy, depending on what might happen.
In short, he wasn’t just present, he was as present as he is in a real race weekend.
The same goes for his participation in the Race Legends Trophy (rF2), which we organized when the real races were suspended. Fernando won several of these races. What made him stand out was the considerable effort he put in. He wasn’t content just to be good with his steering wheel and pedals, he also thought about the psychological and strategic aspects of racing to outperform his rivals.
Many young drivers were able to take part in ESport events alongside him. His popularity also reached new generations of car enthusiasts.
A year before the pandemic, simracing was still scorned by purists. But now, it’s seen as an incredible opportunity! Teams can make a name for themselves even in times of crisis. And it’s an opportunity to promote the sport, to talk about it to the younger fans who are its future.
The breakdown of the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours
It’s a great evening for a bit of cycling… ! It’s not the 24 hours we were hoping for!
Allinsports, Barrichello, Pahkala and Teien, any ideas for the next challenge? The 24h of Spa? Nurburgring? Daytona?
Tweet from Fernando Alonso on June 13, 2020
Just as the race was getting underway, Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello’s car fell victim to human error and then a game glitch that aborted their chances of competing under normal conditions.
Jarl Teien had managed to qualify the car in 13th position for the start, and Alonso had quickly climbed up to 10th place.
Unfortunately, as the driver tried to take a lap on a Porsche, he collided with the car and ran it off the track. As punishment, he received a 1 second Stop and Go penalty. The problem was that the penalty fell exactly as he entered the pits for a scheduled stop. That’s where the glitch came in.
Unable to refuel, Alonso spent long minutes trying to fix the problem, but nothing worked. When he came out of the pits, he didn’t have enough fuel to complete another lap.
Barrichello was so disappointed by this news that he did everything he could to get the race stewards to let the car back on track. In the end, they were able to restart the race thanks to a red flag, and even though they were 6 laps down, they put some very good times on the board.
The race also saw Max Verstappen team up with Lando Norris for the Redline team.
Fernando Alonso signs up for the iRacing 2021 24 Hours of Daytona
In January 2021, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello and Tony Kanaan team up in partnership with Allinsports and WTF1 to compete in the 24 Hours of Daytona on iRacing.
WTF1 is an ESport team created by Anton Stipinovich, a former engineer who has worked for Ferrari, McLaren and RedBull, among others. He also created the Allinsports brand. In short, he’s a heavyweight in the game!
After 24 hours of intense racing, Fernando Alonso’s car finishes second!
The virtual 24 hours of Le Mans 2022
Alonso is back for the virtual 24h du mans from January 15 to 16, 2022. But this time he’s staying in the paddock as coach of car #36.
I’m excited to be the captain of the #36 Alpine for the virtual 24h du Mans. I love endurance racing and it’s always good to stay in touch with the racing world for me. In recent years, simracing has become increasingly popular and professional. I’m looking forward to helping Victor Martins, one of our drivers at Alpine Academy. He has experience in simracing and I’m sure that the #36 car, with its talented drivers, will be competitive.
Fernando Alonso, Team Captain #36 Alpine
This is my first official race in ESports. I’m delighted to be sharing this experience with Fernando Alonso. It’ll be interesting to see how he adapts to this type of competition. I hope to learn a lot from him and apply what I learn from this experience to my racing career. We’re going to have a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to start preparing for the race.
Victor Martins, Driver in car #36 Alpine ESports
After my participation in the 2020 Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans as Manager, I’m delighted to be leading the Alpine ESports team. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to work with Fernando. But I’m not forgetting Victor, against whom I’ve been lucky enough to race in simracing in the past. The commitment of these two champions shows the full potential of this discipline. Above all, it shows just how fine the line between real and virtual racing has become. We’ve got a lot of work to do to meet this challenge. What’s clear is that each and every one of us will do our utmost to bring the team a good result.
Richard Arnaud, Alpine ESports Team Manager
Fernando Alonso’s simracing setup
It’s fair to say that the F1 driver has taken great pleasure in launching his ESports career in style. Let’s take a look at the equipment Fernando Alonso chose to launch his simracing career.
Allinsports cockpit
Don’t expect to find a mainstream cockpit in Fernando Alonso’s living room. When he decided to get serious about simracing, he placed an order with Allinsports.
What isAllinsports? A Miami-based company that designs custom cockpits for professionals and high-net-worth clients.
Rubens Barrichello, Charles Leclerc, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raïkkönen… and many others!
Alonso ordered 2 identical models, one for his apartment in Lugano, Switzerland, the other for his residence in Spain.
The Allinsports eRacer tubular cockpits are not shown on the brand’s official website. Nor are prices indicated.
But for the record, Juan Pablo Montoya did promote an Allinsports model quite similar to Fernando Alonso’s, and worth €25,500.
The seat is also made by the brand in carbon fiber. And the screen is a Samsung 49-inch curved monitor.
Fanatec Podium F1 steering wheel base
As far as the steering wheel base and wheel are concerned, Allinsports has chosen to equip its cockpit with a Fanatec Podium F1, a model used in many professional simracers.
Allinsports crankset
When it comes to cranksets, Allinsports has equipped the cockpit with an in-house system.
The brand is used to creating its own peripherals.
The crankset features 2 pedals, including a Load Cell brake and adjustable suspension rubbers.
On which simulation can Fernando Alonso be found?
It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to find Fernando Alonso on public servers. When he does take part in a race, it’s usually to take part in an official competition organized by professional teams. Among his favorite simulations are rFactor 2 and iRacing.
FA Racing G2: Fernando Alonso’s ESport team
In 2017, Fernando Alonso decided to team up with the G2 ESports team and the Logitech brand to launch a simracing team: the FA Racing G2 Logitech G.
This was the first ESports team to team up with a real Formula 1 champion. At the time, however, Alonso was not yet a simracing enthusiast. He saw the challenge as a way of having fun and bringing together enthusiasts from all over the world.
The intention was good, but perhaps the partners were less so? In any case, the team hasn’t given any sign of life since February 2020.
That’s amusing when you consider that just 3 months later, Alonso will be making his real simracing debut, driving not on a Logitech steering wheel but a Fanatec one!
