Jenson Button does it on a ?20m yacht, Michael Schumacher does it on a Harley-Davidson across the plains of America, but Fernando Alonso chose a more down-to-earth getaway to escape the pressures of the Formula One circus. During a break between Grands Prix last summer, he went to Tenby in Wales for a holiday.

“It was a crucial moment and I needed to escape the pressure and clear my head, so I got into my car with some friends and headed for the South Wales coast,” he says. “Finally I could relax and think. That was important in winning the championship.”

The Welsh, and Tenby in particular, may be unaware of the part they played in helping Spain claim its first F1 world champion, and the French manufacturer Renault its first constructors’ championship, but Alonso drove a mature and inspired second half of the season to clinch the title and, at 24, become the youngest champion in the history of the sport.

In Spain he is, understandably, a phenomenon. Three years ago the country did not tune in to motor racing, but that changed when Alonso became a championship contender. Television viewing figures increased by 45 per cent in 2005 compared with the year before, and Spain became the fourth-largest viewing population worldwide.

While Alonso could join holidaymakers on the South Wales coast, cowering behind windbreaks and licking their ice creams, and remain unmolested, this is impossible at home.

“I can no longer walk around my home town of Oviedo in Spain, as it causes too much fuss,” he says. “Even when I go to watch Real Madrid, I have to put on a disguise to prevent too much attention. This is sad, as I miss my family and friends a lot.”

Not only is he bothered constantly at home ? “a coach full of 50 people pulled up at the traffic lights when I was back in Spain and they all wanted my autograph” ? but his family is also feeling the pressure, with an ever-present paparazzi pack camped outside their home. “The media attention outside of F1 really bothers me,” he says. “It is more stressful for me to be hounded in my private life than to drive my F1 car. Once I’m in the car I feel completely in control, it is my office. I enjoy the pressure put on me to retain the title, but pressure out of the car is a bit distressing.”

To reduce it, he has chosen as his home a city where he can mingle unobtrusively with an insular student population. For five years since he arrived in F1 as a Minardi driver in 2001, before joining Renault in 2003, he has made his home in a bachelor apartment in Oxford, where he lives as normal a life as any world champion can. “Not many people recognise me in Oxford, so I can walk around and do normal things like shopping,” he says. “I really enjoy shopping in the local supermarket. And, yes, I’m happy to stand in the queue like everyone else. Normally, I’m a patient man, I don’t need to do everything at speed.”

Browsing the aisles of the local Waitrose is not really the image that comes most readily to mind when considering a man who is accustomed to driving a car at nearly 200mph, but these racing drivers are funny fellows.

When he lived in Cambridge, Rubens Barrichello used to drive the local Tesco manager insane with his trolley races between the aisles and his passion for Mr Muscle cleaner. In Alonso’s case, the passion is for more culinary-friendly items. “I enjoy cooking, either for myself or with my mother at home; it’s a good way to chill out.”

Yet Alonso confesses to being a picky eater, his favourite dish being white rice with a fried egg on top. The clean-living, laid-back persona disappears, however, the second that any element of competition appears.

“I’m very competitive, I always have been,” he says. “When I was a kid I was always trying to beat my mum and dad to the door, or in or out of the car. I’ve always played to win. We played tennis in Malaysia last week and I wanted to win that match as much as winning an F1 race. Everything is a competition to me, even card games.”

This season has started well, with a victory in Bahrain snatched from Schumacher and his Ferrari. In last Sunday’s Australian GP, Alonso once again raced past the chequered flag first ? his tenth career win. “Last year it was a fight between Renault and McLaren, so if you had a bad race, you’d finish fourth, but this year we have four teams in the running ? Renault, Ferrari, Honda, McLaren ? so you could end up seventh or eighth, and that’s not going to win championships. But I’m feeling confident and it’s great to know from the first race that we can fight for the championship. I enjoyed the win in Bahrain. Fighting for victory with the seven-time world champion is a pleasure; to win by a second and overtake Michael is better than overtaking any other driver. I’d like to think we can carry this through to the last race”

Pressure on the racetrack starts from qualifying and its new “knockout” format. “Mess up the first session and your weekend is ruined, as you’ll be in the first six to be dropped; mess up the second part and you’ll lose out on the top 10; have engine trouble in the first race and you’ll go down 10 places on the grid at the next race,” he explains. “There’s a lot to play for; you have to separate your anxiety from the job in hand and just go out and do your best.”

However, although Alonso has enormous respect for Schumacher, he has no intention of still being on the track at 37. “I can’t imagine fighting for the championship in 2019,” he says, laughing.

Whether he wins the title again or not, next year he is destined for McLaren, his reported ?60m deal a move born out of pragmatism rather than emotion. “It wasn’t an emotional decision,” he insists. “I’m happy at Renault, but you need to find new motivations in life and this was just part of a decision for my future.”

Away from the track, Alonso likes to go to the cinema “to watch comedies, not sad films. I want to feel happy, not depressed”. And he can be seen pedalling around the roads of the Renault factory in Oxfordshire.

“I’ve always loved cycling. I was on a bike about the same time I got into go-karting, when I was about three, and Miguel Indurain (the Spanish five-time winner of the Tour de France) was my hero when I was a child,” says Alonso.

“In England it’s quite difficult to find good roads. You run the risk of getting run over or soaking wet, but I’ve managed to find some good routes around the factory, so I can combine going to the gym with being on the open road.”

If Alonso had taken up his second-choice career, the homeowners of Spain might be seeing him at their front door rather than in their living rooms. “One of my close friends is a double-glazing salesman and I might’ve followed him into the job,” he says. “I used to help him work inside the houses. We both liked cars, but our families made us live in reality and keep our feet on the ground. We had to have a plan B in case the racing didn’t work out.”

Fortunately for Spain and the rest of the world, things did work out, and Alonso is realising his dreams on a racetrack. Touchingly, his long-term goals remain the ones of mere mortals. “My ideal future would be to have my own home in Spain and have a wife and children, and live near my parents and sister. One day this life will be over and I’ll be happy to slip back into normal life.”

But not just yet.

My first car

Jimmy Tangree
radio jockey

My first car was a Maruti 800, which I bought only in 2001. That’s because before that it was just bikes all the way for me. Nonetheless my 800 was sweet, rugged and it lived through the potholes of Calcutta. I have quite a few fond memories of the car and it served me well till 2002. I upgraded to a Ford Ikon because I needed a roomier car.

Being a complete bike freak, I have even fonder memories of my very first bike ? a Yezdi 250. I used to be a crazy rider and would do all sorts of things on my bike ? things that I’d never attempt to do today. I remember taking turns at 80kmph, doing wheelies and loads more ? it was a crazy time! I had that bike for about one-and-a-half years, after which I graduated to my first foreign bike ? a 50cc Honda MBX with six gears, water cool engine and more. Of course, the stunts I pulled on that bike will make up a whole new story.