It has happened before. Alian Prost is one example of a driver taking a year out of Formula. In Prost’s case, it was called a sabbatical. It was 1991 when Ferrari fired him and he had nowhere to go in 1992. The Frenchman returned to F1 the following year to win his 4th world drivers title in the utterly dominant Williams team.

If Alonso is taking a sabbatical then he will be following Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen took a sabbatical in 2009 and did a year of rallying. The problem with a sabbatical is that Formula One technology moves quickly. And therefore requires a period of adaptation to understand a new generation of technology. Of Raikkonen’s sabbatical Alain Prost said at the time: “When you take a year off you have to be extremely serious about it, preparing physically and mentally.” When Michael Schumacher retired from F1 2006 he later went on to reverse his decision when he joined Mercedes F1 in 2010. Schumacher retired for the second time in 2012. He wasn’t the same driver as he was when he finally retired for good. Schumacher is the only driver to have sustained his driving peak throughout the first phase of his F1 career. Although the Mercedes 2010-2012 F1 car wasn’t the best car, it was clear he struggled to adapt to the new car. Fernando Alonso announced his retirement from F1 this year. And it seemed an absolute decision. Yet in a recent interview, he dropped a hint that he might return in 2020. Ferrari could well be one destination. Many believe that if Alonso had been racing in the 2018 spec Ferrari then he would have won the championship. If that were the case then it could mean Alonso replacing Sebastian Vettel. Coincidentally Vettel’s Ferrari contract expires in 2020. But for now, that is all speculation, water under the bridge. For time being, for Alonso, it’s a time to re-charge the soul. He said: “I feel I need to recharge my batteries a bit next year, but in 2020, of course, it can be a possibility to have a full season in IndyCar, a full season back in F1, or a full season in another series.” Of a possible entry into Indycar Alonso said: “That experience is going to be key, because I now know the race, and I know the event,” he said. “It’s a long two weeks, and though the qualifying and race format seem easy to people who have done it for years, everything was new for me, so I think that experience will be a huge help.”  

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