Alguersuari 2, the return (in karts). “F1 beautiful and damned, it made me suffer ‘

It all started with an invitation from Sete Gibernau. And so, after abandoning engines in 2015, the spark was rekindled for Jaime Alguersuari, who at the age of 31 returned to compete in the European kart championship last weekend in Campillos (Malaga), but suffered a left-sided intercostal fracture. The former Toro Rosso will now have to observe six weeks of absolute rest, but his participation in the KZ karting world championship in Kristianstad, Sweden, is not at risk. Active in the Circus from 2009 to 2011 with the Faenza team, the Spaniard recounts the emotions of returning to the track, also going back in time to the bittersweet experience with Helmut Marko and Red Bull.

Alguersuari, six years have passed but the speed has never disappeared.

“Thank goodness. Going back to karts was a rediscovery. After saying goodbye to F1 at the end of 2011, I was so tired of the engines that I wanted to get away from it all. I just allowed myself the experience in Formula E between 2014 and 2015 , but it was a completely different environment. “

Was that fainting in the Moscow race the definitive signal to leave?

“Exactly, I came from a period when I was not well. I was living with too much stress, resentment and hatred of Red Bull and the F1 system in general. I also had an anxiety crisis. Moscow’s fainting was the definitive sign that it made me realize how things weren’t going well. I needed a change in my life, so I wondered what I wanted to do. “

“I started writing songs, producing music. I felt free to ride a passion that has always been there. Since 1975 my parents went to Ibiza, since I was three years old, in 1993, they brought me too. I breathed electronic music. , they watched the deejays mix, I bought a lot of CDs when I traveled to Berlin. I wondered if it was not the case to produce songs that were born inside me, which today have arrived in different countries. So I found my stage name , “Squire” (in English “Scudiero”, ed), and I started. Too bad that the music industry has suffered with Covid, I hope that from this summer we can return to normal “.

Is it thanks to the pandemic that your passion for karts has returned?

“All the fault of Sete Gibernau (laughs, ed)! He has been a great friend of the family for many years. Once he invited me to his house, telling me that he wanted to race the kart circuit he has in his backyard for a while. A spectacular track, I enjoyed it so much after years of not practicing this sport anymore “.

“Me. If Sete had won, better not to compete again (laughs, ed)”.

Last Saturday he took to the track in the European championship in Campillos, but missed Sunday’s race. A weekend of mixed emotions?

“I did several training sessions before the race. The problem was to go back to racing without the rib protector, because in the pre-F1 times I always did this. In the first training session in Lonato (Brescia), I got an intercostal injury on the left side that didn’t never passed. In this period I never got off the kart anyway and after tests in Malaga and Barcelona, ​​I returned to Campillos. I took pole and snatched a third place in the Saturday race. But the track was fast because it had more and more grip with the passing of the laps, so I fractured the part that was already sore. On Sunday I lapped in the warm-up and retired before the start, when I was doing the right turns I couldn’t breathe. ”

“Now I have to stay still for six weeks, in the meantime I have already started rehabilitation with magnetotherapy and ultrasound. I don’t think however that the injury will block my preparation. The important thing was to be fast on the track. I will skip an appointment next week, but I count on to be there already next month in Valencia or in August at the European championship in Adria (near Rovigo, in Veneto). For the first race in September of the KZ World Championship in Kristianstad, I will be able to have my say “.

But let’s talk a little about his past in F1, how did the call from Red Bull come?

“I came from the victory in the 2008 English F3 championship with Carlin. I felt great, I had realized my dream. All by winning with a wonderful Dallara car, which for me is a work of art for the junior category and very easy I had grown up in England learning on tracks old school. As a member of the Red Bull Academy, I knew in the meantime that the Milton Keynes leaders were watching me, that if I didn’t win they wouldn’t keep me. I probably would have stopped running, because I didn’t have a plan B in life. In July of the following year I was in Germany on the Wachendorf track training and I received a call from Helmut Marko, who told me that from the Hungarian GP at the end of that month I would be on track with Toro Rosso, instead of Sébastien. Bourdais “.

“To tell the truth, I was stunned, I was also a little worried. I didn’t know the STR4 at all, nor an F1 car in general. I had to leave everything aside and be ready immediately, with a car that couldn’t fight. for the victory and for the podium. It wasn’t easy. “

On his debut at the Hungaroring he finished 15th, but also set a record: that of the youngest driver in making his F1 debut. Then he broke the record of Mike Thackwell, who in 1980 just over 19 took to the track aboard an Arrows in the Dutch GP. Did the attention of the press create even more pressure in her?

“The record could also please me, many at the time saw it as something special. But I didn’t care, I just wanted to do well. I needed time to grow, to adapt to the car and F1. It’s been a while. ‘a crescendo: in 2009 I had no preparation and I suffered a lot, the last season of 2011 was very good with a 7th place both in Monza and in South Korea, or with the 8th in Canada. the F-Duct, which instead was present in all the cars of the other teams except Caterham and Virgin. I still remember that overtaking on Nico Rosberg as if it were yesterday “.

“Nico was faster than me with the Mercedes, I couldn’t overtake him. On the last lap, however, in the very long straight between turns 2-3 I tried an extreme strategy: I activated all the KERS making it wear out until the end. then with the Drs I developed that extra 50 hp by stealing two seconds in 400 meters. Overtaking was not very difficult, but the idea itself was really extreme and taken at the last minute. I still remember Marko in the pits, he came to hug me exclaiming many times «Good job!»“.

A way to make peace after that Saturday morning discussion, what exactly happened?

“Sebastian Vettel had already won the second of his four career titles. Nothing was going on as Toro Rosso fought for seventh against Sauber. We had orders from Red Bull to let their drivers pass. Friday it had always rained, while Saturday was dry and the riders, including myself, were trying the race pace for Sunday. Sebastian instead entered with little fuel to test the time and I found him in front of me twice in the out-lap. two laps were nullified to respect Red Bull’s decision, but there were a few minutes left in the session and the third time I was in front of Seb I couldn’t lose another moment, so there was my overtaking and then his counter-overtaking. Helmut, however, did not know what had happened, he only listened to Vettel on the radio and was furious at my garage. He started shouting, I tried to explain things to him calmly but I couldn’t. I tried in every way to make myself understood in English; but if a p person is a wall, the sound comes back “.

Is Helmut Marko a difficult person?

“Yes, but I would like to say that I still had a great relationship with him and that what happened has nothing to do with their decision to leave me out at the end of the season. I will always be grateful to him, to Red Bull and to the owner. of the Dietrich Mateschitz team. They gave me the opportunity to stay in F1, a bit like I was at university. I have matured as a person. I can only consider myself privileged to have made this life, even if I have suffered a lot from there forward “.

Then in 2012 he was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo, can you tell us how they said goodbye at the end of the previous season?

“I still don’t understand how it could have happened. I had closed ahead of my teammate Sébastien Buemi, I even canceled a contract with Lotus in Abu Dhabi to become the second driver of Kimi Raikkonen (in the end Romain Grosjean was chosen, ed). The Renault folks told me I would have to sign immediately or the offer would vanish, but I decided to continue with Toro Rosso because there was a good atmosphere around me after the good results from that season. Moreover, from the Canadian GP we had solved the problem of tire wear in the race, bringing the STR6 almost always in the top-10 “.

“Even at the end of the season the team called me saying that there would be good sensations for 2012, that new parts would arrive from McLaren and that the car would be more performing. I was excited, I showed up in Madrid for an event with a sponsor of Toro Rosso. The day after he called me Marko and told me that there was no chance for me and Buemi to stay. I was disappointed with the treatment. The HRC remained, but what was the point of getting on track with a team that was the last of the grid? “.

How was the relationship with current Red Bull team principal Christian Horner?

“He was not there, neither with him nor with Adrian Newey. Even on the track, Christian was not a very friendly type. A little is also due to the fact that since 2010 we have been building our cars entirely in Faenza, where I lived at the time. We had a completely frame Made in Italy. We only went to Milton Keynes to train on the simulator. “

Today F1 has changed a lot compared to your times, with hybrid cars and no longer with aspirated engines of the past. She likes?

“Honestly no. I would like to go back to the past, with cars with little grip, less downforce and naturally aspirated engines. A bit like in 2003-2004. But I also understand that times have evolved. I can’t wait to see next year with the budget cup and the change of regulations, how will the new single-seaters be “.

One of his compatriots joined Ferrari this year: Carlos Sainz. What do you think of him, can he do well for Ferrari?

“Carlos is a unique driver, in the sense that he has the values ​​of a true sportsman. F1 today unfortunately does not work like other sports, as wealthy entrepreneurs put money and can even secure seats for their drivers to race. He is good. not only in this sport, but also in golf and tennis. A friend who represents my country and gives it a beautiful image, everything that the Circus needed. He knew how to reinvent himself and it was not easy, since he has a father, Carlos Sainz senior, who is a two-time world rally champion. I’m sure Ferrari will do well. “

And of “his” AlphaTauri? Pierre Gasly’s third place in Baku proves that the Faenza car is as competitive as last year.

“A car that always finishes in the top eight shows that it is competitive. Just look at its potential from the times in qualifying: if a car is fast you can see it by averaging the times in qualifying, and then compare the lap with that of the fastest car which is almost always the Mercedes or Red Bull. The AlphaTauri is always a second and a half away from them, so he can have his say. In my time there were 16-17 “.