Some time back, I happened upon an interview with F1 driver and former World Champion, Fernando Alonso. At the end of the interview, Alonso was asked a series of questions, and the eclectic nature of the questions intrigued me. So, if Fernando will forgive me, I’ve posted his responses with mine immediately underneath.
If you could pick just one meal to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Fernando Alonso: Pizza.
Kim: Boerewors [South African sausage] with Jarlsberg cheese on the side.
If you could pick just one [tropical] holiday destination…
Alonso: The Maldives.
Kim: The Seychelles — if not so far away and spendy, I’d go there annually. And I don’t even like tropical paradises.
If you could pick just one track to race on…
Alonso: Suzuka.
Kim: Spa Francorchamps, in any type of car.
If you could pick just one F1 corner to drive…
Alonso: Eau Rouge [Spa].
Kim: Ditto. Here’s why.
If you could pick just one race car to drive…
Alonso: McLaren MP4/4.
Kim: 1959 Ferrari 246 F1 — still one of the most beautiful racers ever made.
If you could pick just one F1 era to race in…
Alonso: The 90s.
Kim: The late 1950s — yeah, it was dangerous; don’t care.
If you could pick just one road car to drive…
Alonso: The McLaren P1.
Kim: 2017 Bentley Continental.
If you could pick just one other motorsport to watch…
Alonso: MotoGP.
Kim: World Endurance Championship Series, esp. Le Mans (long video).
If you could pick just one video game to play…
Alonso: I play a lot of football games. Probably it would be FIFA.
Kim: Probably none; maybe EA Sports Cricket, if I had to choose one.
If you could pick just one colour to wear…
Alonso: Black.
Kim: Dark blue or -green.
If you could pick just one sport to play…
Alonso: Basketball.
Kim: Cricket. Test cricket, at Lord’s.
If you could pick just one song to listen to…
Alonso: “Have A Nice Day” by Bon Jovi.
Kim: “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas (assuming the genre is rock ‘n roll).
If you could pick just one thing to drink…
Alonso: Apple juice.
Kim: Fresh squeezed OJ, from South African oranges.
If you could pick just one book to read…
Alonso: “Open” by Andre Agassi.
Kim: Fiction: “Goshawk Squadron” by Derek Robinson; non-fiction: “The Proud Tower” by Barbara Tuchman.
If you could pick just one city to live in…
Alonso: Oviedo, my hometown.
Kim: Vienna, Austria:
or Plano TX (my new apartment will be just around the corner):
If you could pick just one movie to watch…
Alonso: It would be a comedy…
Kim: “A Good Year” by Ridley Scott — I watch it about once a month anyway.
If you could pick just one person to live with…
Alonso: That is a work in progress.
Kim: Nobody. Splendid isolation, remember?
If you could pick just one fruit to eat…
Alonso: Banana.
Kim: South African white peach, or papaya (paw-paw).
If you could pick just one vegetable to eat…
Alonso: Courgette.
Kim: Potato, in all its various forms.
If you could pick just one mode of transport to use…
Alonso: Train. I like to use trains. Everywhere that I can, I take trains.
Kim: A performance saloon car like a Maserati Quattroporte or Bentley.
If you could pick just one gadget to own…
Alonso: iPhone.
Kim: Laptop PC — I’d say a Smartphone, but the screen’s too small to read.
If you could pick just one age to be…
Alonso: 23 or 24. From then on it is only going downhill!
Kim: 25 or 26. (I absolutely ruled at that age.)
If you could pick just one band or singer to listen to…
Alonso: Bon Jovi.
Kim: Procol Harum.
If you could pick just one thing to collect…
Alonso: Probably watches.
Kim: Also watches, or electric guitars.
If you could pick just one type of shoe to wear…
Alonso: Sneakers.
Kim: Minnetonka moccasins. That’s pretty much all I wear anyway, unless it’s cold or raining.
If you could pick just one type of chocolate or candy to snack on…
Alonso: Lollipop.
Kim: Buchanan’s Clotted Cream Fudge, from Britain.
If you could pick just one famous celebrity to date…
Alonso: Probably Charlize Theron.
Kim: Nigella Lawson or Carol Vorderman.
And of course, I have to justify my two choices with completely gratuitous pics of Nigella and Carol:
Yeah, I have a type. And finally:
If you could pick just one piece of exercise equipment to train with…
Alonso: Bicycle.
Kim: Bar stool.
I have a seat belt for that bar stool.
So glad to see you back Kim, so unhappy to hear of your loss.
Don’t know if you’ve run across this clip before, but it’s cool:
Onboard As Fangio Revisits Monte Carlo
You have some great choices!!! Choice of PT equipment is fantastic!!!
Glad you’re back.
I want the GTO that Moss drove at Daytona in 1962. But a Meister-Brauser Scarab would be quite nice, as well.
You and my late wife are in agreement about the Minnetonka Moccasins.
A place to live? Too demanding for my old tired body, but my heart’s in Terlingua.
Candy? Lammes chewy pralines from Austin. They’re addictive.
RE: Spa Francorchamps
I’ve never been to a Formula One race, but I have driven past Spa Francorchamps. We were living in Germany at the time and must have been doing a little traveling, possibly on the way to or from Paris. I know I made a point of passing through the Ardennes a couple of times. There were quite a few extra traffic control barriers and such. It looked like a race had just finished up or something. Unfortunately there was not time to stop and look around just then, with a car full of wife and baby.
This might have been Spring 1989. That baby grew up hearing about places she had been, but had no memory of. She eventually did a little European traveling on her own, and is now a new Mommy and a professor of Statistics at a small University.