Fernando Alonso says he doesn’t care about this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, with his mind focused on “Bigger challenges”.
For the first time since his Formula 1 debut in 2001, Alonso will not be present at the Australian Grand Prix.
Instead, the McLaren ambassador and tester will be in Florida where he will race a Toyota in the Sebring 12 hour race.
Asked by Diario Sport if he misses being in the paddock for the 2019 season opener, he stated: “Not at all.”
In fact, the 37-year-old won’t bother watching the race.
“I will not watch the race, I don’t know if it will be interesting and in any case I don’t care so much.
“Logically yes, of course, like any fan I have normal curiosity to see how it goes and discover what is the real order of the teams.
“But the centre of the racing world for me this weekend is Sebring, where there will be more than 200,000 fans. I am definitely where I want to be.”
Alonso listed a category of issues he believes are plaguing Formula 1 right now, and cited them as a big reason why he wanted to focus on “bigger goals that F1”.
“I don’t race there because I have much bigger challenges than F1 can offer me today,” he explained.
“They have problems with the promoters of the races, with the television rights, with the teams.
“Right now in my career I have much bigger goals than F1.”
These comments go against what Alonso said last week in an interview with the Daily Express, where he said: “you’re always going to miss Formula One because they are the fastest cars on the planet.”
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