Why Haa’s troubles bring back memories of Alonso Minardi

Fernando Alonso has asked Haas rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin to keep up the motivation after a tough debut season at Minardi in 2001.

Alonso entered the F1 grid with Minardi, the team that was bought by Red Bull and became AlphaTauri, scoring a best result of 10.

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At this point, points were only given to the first six winners and the Spaniard thought about the importance of keeping “motivation high” in spite of the disoralizing results.

“I definitely remember 2001 wasn’t very competitive,” said Alonso.

“It’s a season in which you have to deliver your best possible performance, but at the same time keep your motivation high because every weekend it’s the same result, no matter how you prepare.”

After his year at Minardi, Alonso spent a year in reserve at Renault before taking over a racing seat in 2003 and winning his first title in 2005.

Aside from Mazepin, Alonso said: “Sometimes you are very proud and happy with your performance and on other weekends you are a bit disappointed, but the end result is always the same.

“From the outside you don’t see any differences [but] It is a nice preparation for future events, and you usually learn more from difficulties than from success.

“So it’s definitely a good season for him and for Haas in general.”