Alonso on Vettel’s possible return to F1: ‘It’s a challenge’

During the days leading up to the Singapore Grand Prix, former four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel said that he could not rule out a comeback to Formula 1. An expert on this topic and the former rival of the German, Fernando Alonso, was asked about Vettel’s possible return to F1.

After leaving Formula 1 behind in 2018 to pursue other goals such as the 'Triple Crown', Alonso returned to the pinnacle of motorsport in 2021 and understands how hard of a challenge it is.

"It's up to him, obviously, if he thinks about it. As I said, I think when Daniel came back, it is a challenge. [The challenge of] going back to F1 cannot be underestimated. And yeah, it could be a challenge for sure," the Spaniard shared his thoughts on the matter.

If the Aston Martin driver can complete 16 laps on Sunday, he would be the first driver in history to complete 100,000 kilometres in Formula 1 under race conditions.

"I think that's race kilometres. They never count every practice, qualifying or testing. So I remember the first year testing in 2002 when I was test driver, I did 40,000 km in that season alone," the experienced Alonso began. "If you put all the numbers together, they are a lot of laps. Hopefully we see the chequered flag on Sunday. Normally it gives you some points here because anything can happen. Let's see the next few years and how many more laps I complete."

Alonso was also asked whether he thinks taking every session into account, has he reached a million kilometres in total. "I don't know. In racing cars for sure. Because I've been testing and doing a lot of laps every week, off-road as well. Well, there are 8,000 in Dakar plus 10,000 of testing, so there is a lot of kilometres," Alonso concluded.