Fernando Alonso arrives late in Japan: the reason is definitely sweet

Fernando Alonso arrived late to the Japan Grand Prix for some good news: he became a father for the first time with his partner Melissa Jiménez. The baby’s birth caused him to miss FP1 and Thursday’s press conference, but it didn’t stop him from getting on track as early as FP2 in the Aston Martin and starting his race weekend at Suzuka. The Aston Martin driver expressed his emotions to DAZN España.

The Spanish driver emphasized how delicate but at the same time special this moment is: “The Grand Prix is different and special. Fatherhood changes everything and you can’t imagine anything, what has to come comes. There is stress and worry for everything to go well, but everything went well for the mom and the baby. It’s a very happy and special moment.”

Talking about the difficulties related to travel and the time zone, Fernando Alonso explained, “I’m jet-lagged because I arrived this morning, I did FP2 and we’ll get to sleep soon because I skipped the European night.” Afterwards, the Aston Martin driver shared his impressions of his single-seater after FP2: “Now we go to work, to see what we can do here. In FP2 we didn’t have great feelings with the car. It’s the same situation we had before.”

As for Aston Martin, talking about the situation of the single-seater was former driver Pedro De la Rosa: “There are pieces of improvement, but I didn’t notice big changes. We are far behind in terms of performance and we have to work to improve.” For the team ambassador, the goal is one: “We are at Honda’s home, we have to be there and support them. We hope to finish the race for the first time this season. Completing all the laps is the goal.”