#PlacesAlonsoWouldRatherBe: F1's Alonso amused, and baffled after his social media status goes viral

Sao Paulo: Fernando Alonso was amused, but baffled by the social media interest in a photograph of him sitting on the barriers after yet another engine failure by his McLaren-Honda car in practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The image, in which he appeared to be lost in his own world as he waited for his machine to be cleared from the track and for a vehicle to transport him back to the pits, was repeated and shared so rapidly that Alonso was aware of its popularity by the time was back at the team garage.

“I had read already that this image is quite famous,” he told reporters. “But I don’t know exactly what the people can expect when you retire and you are waiting for the motorbike, or the Safety Car, to take you back to the garage and you have to stay in one place.

“I didn’t do anything different to usual.”

AFP