Alonso 'made his mechanics' cry: 'I didn't know what was going on?'
F1 News
An experienced Fernando Alonso competed in his 400th Grand Prix earlier this season. Entering the 2001 season, the Spaniard embarked on his F1 journey and is now the driver to compete at the most Grands Prix in the competition's history. Paul Stoddard, Minardi's team principal at the time revisited Alonso's debut from 23 years ago.
The two-time world champion, who was allowed to take part in the 2020 young drivers' test after his return to the competition, was indeed a rookie once. Back in 2001, he first competed for Minardi at the Australian Grand Prix.
Paul Stoddard explains when he bought the team, Alonso was their greatest asset. "In his early days, he came into the factory and worked with the mechanics to help build the car. We had a very short timeframe to put the whole team together, which was six weeks and three days from when I acquired it to when we had to fly to Melbourne," he began to F1.com
"Fernando was there until midnight, working God knows what hours – around the clock – to get everything done. All we managed to do was a quick shakedown at Fiorano, a straight-line track, before we shipped the cars."
Alonso's qualities shine through in debut
The 2001 season got underway in Melbourne. The Spaniard qualified in P19. On Sunday, while Michael Schumacher converted his pole position into a victory, Alonso also achieved a great result for Minardi. Starting from 19th on the grid, he finished in P12.
"What I always remember is I came off the pit wall absolutely elated that we’d finished the race and that Fernando had come home in 12th place, then I walked into the garage and I could see all the mechanics in tears. I thought, 'What’s happened here that I don’t know about?' But the reality was, they were just tears of pride, the fact that we’d got there," Stoddard explained.
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