Alonso celebrates his 40th birthday at the same venue where he won his 🅠first grand prix in 2003 wh෴ile driving for Renault.

After a slow start to life with Alpine after two seasons away from the sport, Alonso has been back🦹 to his best in recent roun⛄ds, scoring points in the last five consecutive races.

Reflecting on turning 40 in Budapest, Alonso says it’s a “bigger༺ number” than🥂 what he feels.

“I feel gooღd, I feel not 40 for sure. It’s the number that is surprising me as well when I see it or when I see it everywhere in the motorhome because the team prepared a very nice decoration in my room and in the lunch area as 🐼well.

“It’s a bigger number than what I 𒅌feel but it’s the way it is.”

Alonso admitted that he never once imagined racing in F1 when he was 40 back in his 🍷earlier years.

“No, probably not because you live only in the present, you’re not thinking too much about the future at that age,” Alo💯nso explained. “You’re just fo♚cusing on the race weekend and you hardly imagine yourself more than two or three years in time from that moment. I don’t know.

“Now it’s a different thing. I am more used to the sport, to Formula 1 and all the things that are quite unique here when I came into the sport I was from a very s𒅌mall town in the north of Spain with no experience, no background, no nothing and then you arrive into this world and you’re shocked for five, six, seven years until you’re used to do everyt🐻hing.

“Now it’s a littl♎e bit different, you know how things are and you’re enjoying a little bit more yourself.”

Looking ahead to this weekend𝔍 in Budapest, Alonso expects ano💟ther top ten finish to be difficult.

“I had always a feeling or a smell of how the weekend could be in the previous races but this weekend I am a little bit confused about the results of R🃏enault last year here and some of our other main competi🤪tor’s performance at this track,” Alonso added. 

“I think Ferrari for exa🎃mple will be very strong again this weekend so that midfield looks a little bitꦕ more competitive this weekend. We have to execute a perfect weekend here in Budapest if we want to score points. I think it’s going to be harder than the last five races.”