Fernando Alonso rejects idea around Brad Pitt F1 film: 'I don't care what fans think'

Fernando Alonso says he does not "care too much" about what some F1 fans think, after the release of the Brad Pitt F1 film. 

Alonso is the oldest driver on the grid, having recently celebrated his 44th birthday, becoming the first driver since Graham Hill in 1975 to race beyond this milestone. 

He is also the most experienced driver in F1 history with 415 starts, but has not won a grand prix since the 2013 Spanish GP, nor the title since 2006, thus meaning newer fans have not seen the Spanish racer celebrate a grand prix win or title.

In the recent British GP, Nico Hulkenberg, now a veteran of 241 starts, bagged his first podium finish after 239 attempts, with this coinciding with the release of the F1 film, starring Brad Pitt.

Pitt's character Sonny Hayes is a veteran driver who ultimately returns to F1 and claims a first grand prix win. 

The film has broken box office records since its release, and is the highest-grossing film of Pitt's career, but Alonso has rubbished the suggestion that, because older drivers won a fictional race, it means newer fans are more open to real-life older drivers enjoying success.

"I don’t think Nico or I care too much about what the next-generation fans think," Alonso told media, including RacingNews365.

"We only try to win races, try to work with our team the best we can, and deliver the performance. The fans and the people outside watching TV, don’t have the full picture of what is going on and the difference in performance between the cars. 

"So, if next year Nico and I have a winning car and we win eight consecutive races and fight for the championship, then they will think that we ate something different in winter or had a different training programme and we learned how to drive in the winter. 

"This is not really the reality. We train every day, eat every day, travel every day, go to the simulator every day. We try to be better and better every day with our teams. 

"When we achieve the result, we just try to share it with them and our fans around the world — but they are not our priority. 

"It cannot sound rude to anyone — we love the fans — but we don’t think about of if they realise how good or bad we drive, that is more for the team."

As for Hulkenberg, he felt there was "no correlation" between film and "between experienced drivers and recent results, it is just circumstantial."