Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso has had to react to his fair share of events in Formula 1 since his debut 24 years ago.
Fernando Alonso has witnessed domination from the likes of Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen over the years.
He’s also enjoyed plenty of success of his own, with Renault handing Alonso two championship-winning cars in 2005 and 2006.
His most recent efforts in Formula 1, after a brief retirement from the sport, have come with Alpine and Aston Martin.
Although Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t think Alonso is an all-time great in Formula 1, he’s still an impeccable judge of events in the paddock and the truly great drivers in the field.
However, when he’s not on top, he’s very unlikely to be keen to speak about those in a better car than he has, as F1 commentator Harry Benjamin discovered to his detriment.
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Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesHarry Benjamin recalls being left ‘red-faced’ by Fernando Alonso in awkward F1 interview exchange
Benjamin was asked on Lucas Stewart’s YouTube channel whether his commentary had ever got him into any awkward situations.
He responded: “I think the short answer is no. Has it led to me getting some blunt answers? Absolutely.
“I made the mistake of asking Fernando Alonso something about it, it was Baku last year, and we were just off the back of papaya rules and Monza, where they arguably lost a one-two because Lando and Oscar were quite punchy with each other on the first lap.
“I wanted an answer from Fernando about what he thought about that because he’s been subject to team orders before and been on the good and the bad side of it.
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“He also knows Andrea Stella really well. Andrea was his Ferrari race engineer for so many years, and at McLaren.
“So, I just thought Fernando might have a little thought or opinion on this. The answer was no, he did not have a thought or opinion, or he did and he did not want to give it to me!
“So, I got rather the cold shoulder there. Obviously, that wasn’t the way to ask that question. It was a good learning point for me, and I was like, I’m sure there was probably a better way I could have asked that, and I might have got a better answer, but that left me a bit red-faced after that one.
“After I did the interview, I got so many WhatsApps from journalists basically saying, ‘Welcome to the club, you just got Alonso’d!’ It happens to everyone once.”
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Fernando Alonso’s post-race mood since joining Aston Martin will leave Andy Cowell concerned
When Alonso first left Alpine for Aston Martin, he was in a position to regularly challenge for podium finishes.
He stood on the rostrum eight times in 2023, but couldn’t find a way to stop Red Bull during the most successful season in F1 history.
The following season, Aston Martin had sunk into F1’s midfield, and this year, there have been races where Andy Cowell’s team have been the slowest on the grid.
Alonso was gutted at his home race last season, while earlier that year, Jenson Button sensed Alonso’s frustration with the position he found himself in.
The 44-year-old Spaniard will be pinning his hopes on next year’s car and the work Adrian Newey is doing in the background.
It means he’s still got plenty of time to make the media feel uncomfortable in the paddock on race weekends.