Fernando Alonso expands on hiring a nutritionist in the winter as he talks about handling travel and F1 races in 2024.
Aston Martin’s Alonso has made an interesting move over the winter, hiring a nutritionist in order to change his diet and also his training regime to not only get through a hard and long season, but also try to prolong his F1 career as much in the future.
Considering his age and the demand of the sport, Alonso has had to put in extra effort to remain fit and get through the programme. And the results has surprised him over the winter after a changed diet as well which is more plant based.
“We usually do the same tests,” Alosno said to media. “The first part we do in the Alps, in Italy, in the mountains. We have historical data of my body’s cardio performance in one, two and five kilometres, in a resting state, in a thousand and one tests of fat or muscle, of reaction with the lights, as well as maximums from the gym with weights.
“While in some tests over the last five or six years, there was a minimal drop in performance, especially in terms of muscle, because, from the age of 30 or 35, you lose a little muscle. This year, we have been able to recover it to maximum levels. And this has been partly due to nutrition, which has changed.
“We tried to gain a bit of muscle to compensate for the age factor, without losing reactivity or endurance in cardio. These were surprising results, and I think very positive,” summed up Alonso, who then expanded on the diet change he has had after consulting with the nutritionist.
“It has changed a little bit our way of seeing things and prepare the body,” continued Alonso. “There are many things that they know in terms of explaining better, that it changes maybe more into a plant-based diet. Maybe not completely strict, but into that route, to try to find a little bit more energy from the food that you eat, and a little bit more from your reserve as well in your body, and try to have more endurance from there.”
It is an interesting move from Alonso to move towards plant-based diet considering that he didn’t think too kindly when Lewis Hamilton talked about vegan food. The Spaniard has trained calmly and is planning to travel more efficiently as well this year while keeping a track of his food intake.
“I have trained more calmly, although it is true that last year the season ended earlier than usual, and I had more time to train, but it has been a winter with much more time for me than I had before,” said Alonso. “I always had something to do during the winter, either I had publicity events or I changed teams and we had to do things at the factory.
“This time I have had time for myself, to drive other cars, and that has helped me to come into this pre-season in the best shape of my life. I think we will have to travel more efficiently and we have to spend the right time in the right places. I think every one of us is different but, in my case, for this calendar, I will try to have a little bit less time in the long races in that city, in that racetrack.
“So, Japan, Australia, China, I will try to fight jet lag in a different way, and not going super early into that country, because that keeps accumulating days away from home. And the energy and the batteries they keep draining throughout the season,” summed up Alonso.
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