Fernando Alonso will be competing in the Daytona 24 Hours for the second time in his career and has suggested that the experience he has had would be "unthinkable" in F1. The Spaniard praised the amount of access fans get at the event compared to the restrictive nature of Formula One.
The former McLaren F1 driver admitted that the change of pace was nice and that the experience for fans was an altogether more positive one as he compared it to the much more obtrusive nature of F1.
"There were a lot of good moments last year and already this year a couple of kids were even jumping in the car at one point!," he said.
"They get really close to the teams, to the drivers, to the cars. They can even touch the car if they want. It's just something unthinkable in Formula 1 or racing in Europe, so I think that's the nice part of this atmosphere and this race.
"I know it will be even bigger with all the fans here and how close they are on pitlane as well. When you jump in the car, you're still signing autographs and taking pictures even with the helmet on, waiting for the car to come to pit lane.
"Sometimes you need to tell them you are in a critical moment and you should be ready to jump in. But at the same time if you embrace that and enjoy that, it is a very nice event and very nice emotion to see all the passion from the fans when they see the cars.''
Alonso will race with Wayne Taylor Racing and will be hoping for a better result after a disappointing outing last year in which he finished just 38th after running into car trouble.
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