Original subtitles

Wednesday, March 27

SOUTH AFRICA MARCH 2019

And the tests...

- Is it possible? - Someone was talking

about a test in Namibia

and you doing three races here.

- Here? - Yes.

This is the year for that.

If we can take time out.

This business...

- It's madness, huh? - It's an adventure.

2. "Lost for Words"

Bahrain Bell helmets factory

How are you? Well?

- The boss? - All done?

You need to try the helmet.

All right?

How are you?

Great.

So?

When a helmet is designed,

there's a lot to consider.

From the position

of the sponsors' logos and their visibility in the car,

to how they'll be seen in a video game.

There's a lot to think about

and, as a company owner,

I always try to grab the best spots first.

MADRID SPAIN

Kimoa's offices

Hopefully they'll use them. But you could get there first.

- What time is the talk show? - Eight o'clock.

We have to explain

how we're going to put things.

- The yellow with black trousers. - It suits you.

Yellow with black trousers?

- What do you think? - The blue's smarter.

With a cowboy shirt underneath.

A cowboy shirt? You can't be serious!

Wear a cowboy shirt. It's ten minutes.

And chinos.

Chinos!

- Two trousers, two shirts. - One for tonight,

- one for tomorrow. - And shoes...

- What size are the trousers? - 42.

Perfect!

They haven't fit this well in ages.

- With this? - No, with this!

It's like dressing kids for school!

Oh my God!

You need to be patient.

What do you think? It really suits him.

- More? - Just so you can do this.

I won't be able to do more than this on the show!

- Don't stretch it! - Because of the shirt?

It looks really good, doesn't it?

- Hello. - Hi.

- Perfect! - We'll give you a rundown.

OK, then.

- Shout if you need anything. - Thanks.

The show has a huge impact. Every night they invite

- a different celebrity. - Many make repeat appearances.

Will Smith has appeared four or five times.

- Over four or five years, I think. - Yes.

Fernando is invited on El Hormiguero,

a primetime show in Spain

An email from Ana?

When was that sent? Three days ago.

10:05. Iberia 4611.

These are the emails I have.

OK...

There are none from Ana.

Sent on the 18th and you're here.

I was marketing director of a vehicle rental company.

And in 1998 we hired

a few karting drivers

to give road-safety classes.

And one day...

a kid showed up. It was Fernando Alonso.

A new Spanish champion in the Euro Open Movistar by Nissan!

His name is Fernando Alonso.

You couldn't ask for more!

I've won six races,

the individual title, the team title... the lot.

Our company helped him

race in Formula 3000.

One thing led to another,

and I started travelling with him all the time.

I took a year's leave,

and that was 16 years ago now!

I remember the night at the Nürburgring,

when he was racing in Formula 3000,

when he landed his first F1 contract.

Team Minardi has confirmed

Spaniard Fernando Alonso as one of its drivers

in this year's F1 World Championship.

19-year-old Alonso has a five-year deal with Renault Sport

and is on loan to Minardi.

I clearly remember his first F1 test.

I did a few laps in the Minardi,

set a reference time and checked everything,

then he made his F1 debut. It was the first time

I'd really seen him and his outstanding talent.

I remember meeting with TV channels and being told

F1 would only attract 100,000 viewers in Spain.

It was underground at the time.

Formula One didn't exist.

An historic moment! Fernando Alonso finishes third.

Podium for the Spaniard!

Fernando took his first podium with Renault.

And I think that race... no one was up to it.

It wasn't in the script.

He wasn't meant to be the Spanish F1 World Champion.

It was surprising how many people knew!

I didn't know and neither did he.

I'm with Pablo.

Hello!

How's it going?

How are you?

Great to see you.

How's everything?

- Great to have you back. - Third time, huh?

The third already? You're a...

I'm a veteran now!

- Want to go try the carts? - Sure, let's go.

So you know what you're doing.

Is it a shopping trolley?

- A modified shopping trolley. - Pimped up!

High tech, huh?

- Does it brake? - Sure.

It brakes badly.

It's better to just...

ease off the accelerator.

Welcome to El Hormiguero!

Here to have fun on El Hormiguero...

Fernando Alonso!

Congrats on your achievements.

You've made some smart career moves.

It's been an unusual year.

When you quit F1, you're meant to relax!

You're after the Triple Crown.

And the Triple Crown is the F1 Championship...

It's Monaco,

the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500.

The three most important races.

- Only one guy has won it, right? - Graham Hill.

Chris Medland Journalist

Le Mans 24 Hours winner 2018

It's more difficult for Fernando

than when Graham Hill achieved it

because the races have changed.

If I win the Indy 500, I'll complete the Triple Crown

and go down in racing history.

In 2017, I was close to achieving it,

I won Rookie of the Year in 2017,

and now it's my major goal.

TEXAS UNITED STATES

First test with McLaren for the Indianapolis 500

April 2019

The McLaren project began last November.

We hired a few people, bought the cars,

spoke to Chevrolet about the engine,

the gearbox...

to Firestone about the tyres,

the brakes, the rims... We've put it all together,

and today is the big day.

Everyone's pretty excited.

We're in Texas, the heart of America.

It's an oval circuit of around 2.5 kilometres.

Indianapolis is almost twice that.

It has a capacity of 180,000,

which is pretty impressive

for a sports facility.

With a football stadium,

you don't have that kind of capacity.

The cars are very different.

You're turning left all the time.

You turn left for physical reasons,

in an anti-clockwise direction.

It's to do with the heart's position.

So that blood reaches every part of your brain,

you turn left. That way, you don't pass out.

If you turn right, the blood doesn't reach every part.

The first time I drove on the Indianapolis Speedway,

I felt pretty sick afterwards.

Indy racing is a whole different discipline.

You're on an oval track.

It's more dangerous.

We European drivers realise

that Indy racing

is far more dangerous than Formula One.

Race: Indianapolis 500

Model: McLaren #66 Engine: 2.2 L twin-turbo V6

Power: 780 hp Weight: 735 kg

Who is going to be the one to explain to me where the speed limiter is

the weight jacker, the buttons on the steering wheel?

Any of the Cosworth boys?

Adapting to a different car is hard.

When I get in the car,

I always need to be reminded where all the controls are,

where the speed limiter is...

If I have it all figured out, I can just focus on driving.

LUGANO SWITZERLAND

My eyes are watering.

It's a whole onion.

Let's see...

- Has he texted you? - Yes.

Voice of Luis García Abad Fernando's manager

- Hello. - What's up?

Damn!

There's nothing to indicate that... that we can't do it.

Nothing's decided. But they need "a couple of weeks"...

...Trying to reach an agreement with Toyota.

"Leave the window open, leave the window open..."

What I'm saying is... what the hell do we do?

The thing is...

I don't know.

"A couple of weeks" to confirm or to think about it?

I don't know. A couple of weeks without any news,

we'll be exposed.

And as it's supposed to be all hush-hush,

I'm not going to tell anyone.

OK, right, bye.

There are informal discussions

with people we've known for years.

Formula One is a bit like football.

People's feelings change all the time,

someone is excited about the results,

someone else is really disappointed,

and you have to know when to play your cards.

My job is to keep the doors

and windows open,

in case he decides

he really wants to return,

so he knows what options he has and can make a decision.

2021 is a key year! Alonso might return to Formula One.

He'd like to win with McLaren.

But what about Ferrari?

Nico Rosberg 2016 F1 World Champion

If he came back it'd be fantastic

because we need someone like him.

The three top teams: Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull.

There's talk of Alonso returning to Ferrari.

I think he's going to the States to win the Indy 500,

win the Triple Crown,

win the IndyCar Series,

and if he has a choice, he'll return to F1 in 2020.

CHARLOTTE UNITED STATES

APRIL 2019

Fernando trains in the Chevrolet simulator

for the Indianapolis 500

I have to say that the simulator,

the IndyCar simulator,

is the most useful simulator

I've ever tried.

Simply because...

when you come off the track,

you don't get badly hurt!

When you come off on the oval, it's pretty serious.

Simulator...

here goes!

This is Chevrolet's HQ,

where there are simulators for the IndyCar guys,

the Nascar guys

and the GT guys.

We're in the simulator.

And this is what you see.

INDIANAPOLIS UNITED STATES

Chris Medland Journalist

First practice day

We started the week

with a few issues, with very little practice

and lots of things to test.

Second practice day

The team was calling me on the radio

but I couldn't hear them.

My radio broke when I took that hit.

I said to them on the radio, "I'm fine, guys.

"Sorry about the car and the accident."

But I got no reply, so I realised the radio was broken.

I got to the box.

All I wanted was to get back out there really fast.

Because our plan was kind of screwed up

and it was another big setback.

Unfortunately, it was my fault. And I felt pretty bad.

The problem is that I told the guys yesterday

I don't get straight. You call the upshift and there is a

There is a moment of deceleration, critic deceleration. It's not...

Shit.

Things went from bad to worse. Although the car

was repairable,

it seemed easier to change the chassis

and use the reserve car.

But that eight- or nine-hour job

ended up taking almost 24 hours.

Zak Brown CEO of McLaren Racing

Third practice day

Gil de Ferran McLaren Racing Sporting Director

At the Indy 500, like at all major races,

as well as the race, there are side events.

You try to do them with a smile and have a good time.

Hi guys, I'm Fernando Alonso.

Hi, I'm Fernando Alonso.

The Indy 500 is on Band Sports!

Is that a flush?

The next day, they told us 1 PM,

then 2 PM and then 4 PM.

We only got to do one lap

before they closed the track.

We had one setback after another.

Bad weather is imminent, please access the grandstand

in orderly fashion and seek shelter.

Fernando can't do a single lap all day

It was a tough week

in terms of performance and small problems that arose.

But unlike Europe, here in the U.S.

the atmosphere is far more relaxed.

Some teams even offered

to help us improve our performances,

so I'm really grateful to them.

- Fernandinho! - How's it going, man?

- You good? - Hell yeah!

- What number did you get? - 50, damn it.

I got 42. We're both screwed.

Totally screwed!

Saturday First qualifying day

Today is qualifying day.

He has to make the top 30 and avoid Sunday's shootout,

or his participation in the Indy 500 could be in jeopardy.

Only 33 drivers can participate.

I remember the time trials as a really tense moment.

Each time I went out,

the car behaved differently.

Sometimes it oversteered, sometimes it understeered.

At Indianapolis, you get two warm-up laps

then the clock starts

and the first turn is at 380 km/h.

At that moment, all you want is to race.

It didn't matter how the car was running

or how sure we were of the car's state at that point,

I had to at least try. You always have to try.

If Fernando does not improve his time

he will have one last chance tomorrow

Do we have fans to cool the engine or something?

Maybe if there is no fan for cooling the engine

we can ask another team.

Maybe they are not running or something.

We can rent one for two hours.

So Fernando, we have to sit here and just wait, you know.

Yeah but I don't know,

I'm not sure we are doing everything to cool the engine.

He will only qualify

if no other car betters his time

No one at McLaren imagined this happening in the qualifiers.

Fernando Alonso's single-seater wasn't among the top 30.

He will have to qualify tomorrow

to race in Sunday's Indy 500.

The 31st to 36th placed drivers

will take part in the Last Row Shootout.

The six drivers will try to secure a spot in the race.

Three will go on and three will go home.

Drivers get one attempt, a single four-lap run,

and their average determines their position.

Sunday Last row shootout

I remember waking up on the Sunday

with renewed hope.

We were six. I had to be in the top three.

When we went out,

surprise, surprise, the car was scraping the track.

We didn't know why.

From 150 km/h, the car started bottoming,

really heating up and it wouldn't run straight.

We realised that when we'd adjusted the car,

we'd got the measurement wrong.

There was a number in inches

instead of millimetres.

And that conversion mix-up

meant the car was almost two centimetres lower.

Before the time trial I remember

Zak and Gil de Ferran saying to me,

"We've put the height in millimetres now,

"as it should have been before,

"but that's all we know.

"We don't know if the car will react well or badly

"when you're at top speed.

"We haven't been able to check.

"We don't want to force you to go out and take risks.

"It's up to you.

"We'll understand if you race and if you don't."

I said to them, "We came here to race so...

"let's do it! Hopefully it'll be fine."

Why did you say that?

You were risking your neck.

Whatever.

But the gears...

You lose a mile when you shift gears.

The best average speed qualifies Fernando: 365.8 km/h

In the next episode...

For any driver,

this is the greatest race in the world.

The last 40 minutes of Le Mans were a rollercoaster of emotions.

Alarm bells go off. You worry about the car.

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