Fernando

“I’m a very competitive person, and the only thing I care about in life is winning.” After (temporarily) retiring from F1 after the 2018 season, Fernando Alonso has not been idle. Before returning, he managed to win the endurance championship including Le Mans, tried to win Indianapolis, tested for McLaren, tried rallying, drove the Dakar, supervised his lifestyle company and the museum of his achievements (with winning cars, etc.). In the middle of all that, he negotiated a return to F1, maintained the status of a sporting icon and legend, spoke through a carousel of media attention, etc. However, this is not a purely white-glowing construction of the "Cult of Alonso", rather, it is an unbiased respect for the doggedness and skill of settling into anything, and about being damn fast and competitive outside of one’s branch of (motor)sport. Into this there is a sea of ups and downs; whether due to team error, technical failure or driver error. Each episode deals with something a little different, one is about Alonso's road to glory, his family background and two world championship titles, another is about his repeated attempts to conquer Indianapolis, a third about Le Mans and so on. There is also a line about how crucial the people and the team around him are to a top driver. It's neither celebratory nor critical, it's just an unbiased, detached look at less than two years of the career of a professional driver who, even at the age of forty, still has the highest ambitions and the desire to try everything and be a fully committed absolute professional with respect – and ideally, of course, to win it all. The technical side isn't afraid to sell the visual advantages of asphalt ovals and endless deserts, no complaints there. The first season ends with a cliffhanger in the form of a return to F1, so the second season shouldn't be without interest either, especially in the stumbling Alpine team. | S1: 5/5 | (14.04.2021)