Fernando Alonso ‘unwell’ and misses Thursday duties ahead of 400th F1 race

On the eve of his 400th Grand Prix weekend, Fernando Alonso will miss Thursday’s media day and the FIA press conference.

Alonso celebrates a milestone weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez this weekend in Mexico, but the weekend hasn’t got off to a pleasant start for the Spaniard.

Fernando Alonso unwell ahead of Mexico City Grand Prix

On Thursday morning in Mexico, ahead of a full day of media duties after flying in from last weekend’s race in Texas, Aston Martin released a short statement to explain that an ill Alonso will not be in attendance at the circuit.

“Fernando Alonso is feeling unwell and will therefore not attend media day at the Mexico City Grand Prix,” said the statement.

“Fernando is focused on feeling 100 percent for Friday and his planned return to the AMR24 for Free Practice 2.”

Alonso was also due to miss the first practice session as the team’s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich takes over his car for a rookie junior appearance, the second mandatory outing for a rookie driver for Aston Martin in F1 2024.

His inability to take part in the media day duties thus means his Mexico City Grand Prix weekend will be quite short.

He had been one of the scheduled participants in the FIA press conference on Thursday, with this weekend being such an important marker in a career of remarkable longevity.

It’s unlikely this illness will help Alonso going into his 400th GP, but anyone who thinks something spectacular could happen this weekend can back the Spaniard at odds of as high as 500/1 with some betting sites. It would rival Pierre Gasly’s win at Monza in 2020…but you never know.

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Alonso, who already holds the record as the most experienced Grand Prix driver ever, sets a new record milestone when he starts this Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

There’s no one even close to his number – Kimi Raikkonen, who debuted at the same race as Alonso back in 2001, also took two years out from F1 after ’09, but called time fully on his career after 2021 after reaching 353 races.

Asked for his feelings as he hits the record number while a guest on this week’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Alonso acknowledged the assertion that it’s an “insane” number to reach: “It is, it is, I think 400 – even though I think now the calendar is a little bit longer and you accumulate 24 every year, and not like in the past – but yeah, taking into account that I’ve been two years out in 2019 and ’20, to reach 400 now is a big number. It’s a way of demonstrating my passion for the sport and for Formula 1.”

As for whether he’s proud to reach the 400 mark, Alonso suggested pride is the wrong word as “it doesn’t mean too much for me right now, because you are racing and you are focused on the next weekend, but knowing that no one reached that number in the past, and maybe someone does in the future, but not many, let’s say a group of five or 10 maximum.

“As I said, it just demonstrates my love for racing, for Formula 1, and how much I enjoy this lifestyle as well, motor racing in general. Even if traveling is demanding, racing is just paying off all the sacrifices.”

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