• JAVIER SANCHEZ

    Special delivery

    @javisanchez

    Bahrain

Updated Friday, March 3, 2023-00:25

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Iván Fernández

admits

that out of shame he has not yet dared to explain to

Fernando Alonso

that he works in Formula 1 thanks to him.

In 2010, one of the sponsors of the pilot, Cajastur, offered scholarships to those Asturians who dreamed of reaching the World Cup and that opened the doors for Fernández, an industrial engineer.

Today the two meet regularly at the Aston Martin factory in Silverstone, in the United Kingdom: Fernández is in charge of perfecting the team's simulator and Alonso, you know.

«He is a very close guy.

The whole team is very excited because he is one of the best in history and he shows it.

He has a reputation for demanding, for pushing to the maximum, for making it clear what is needed.

I hope that this season we will compete at the best level”, envisions the engineer, also from Oviedo, at the gates of the World Cup debut this Sunday in Bahrain.

Today Fernández and 20 other colleagues make up the Spanish community of Aston Martín, a heterogeneous group, but united by three things: football on Mondays, a WhatsApp group and the excitement of Alonso's arrival.

Everyone remembers what they were doing on August 1 of last year, the day the signing was announced.

Meeting with de la Rosa

«I'm not going to lie to you, after Vettel

's withdrawal

there was uncertainty in the team, heads down.

We looked at the driver market and most of them already had a contract.

It painted a difficult year.

No one expected Alonso to arrive and everything was very fast.

They informed us by email just 10 minutes before his signing was published.

I remember how we exchanged glances, how we started to applaud, how someone who was outside the building ran up with excitement.

It was a rush for everyone.

In the Spanish WhatsApp group we were hallucinating.

Not only had we covered Vettel's gap, Alonso was coming!" recalls

Aingeru Elizondo

, also an engineer, in his manufacturing case: his field is 3D printing and his task is to use that technique to create parts for the car.

In his position he has no relationship with Alonso, but it doesn't matter, the illusion is the same: after all, he also got hooked on Formula 1 with his victories... and that Pedro de la

podium pink

.

Because that's another.

Months after signing Alonso, Aston Martín hired De la Rosa as an ambassador and on his first visit to the factory he wanted to meet with all the Spaniards.

In one of the offices, they shared an hour of anecdotes and analysis.

Among them, how a driver can change a car.

Although it seems difficult, a lot, he can change it a lot.

Spanish engineers, with Aston Martin. WORLD

«There are universal improvements, evolutions of the car that can suit all drivers, but the style of each one is very important in the development of the car.

Fernando, for example, depends a lot on the steering, on what he feels through the wheel.

And our job is to adapt to make life easier for him”, analyzes Fernández, who lives in Oxford, one of the two cities with the most Spanish engineers as neighbors.

The other is Milton Keynes, smaller, more industrial, closer to Silverstone.

Aston Martin has gone from being a small team like Force India, of about 400 workers, to doubling its workforce and approaching 800 employees, so the Spaniards no longer work so closely, but they still maintain a relationship.

“We got together to be a little closer to home.

I would like to think that we Spaniards are highly valued in Formula 1. Out of obligation we have had to emigrate and look for a living, so we are all very flexible, we adapt quickly.

In each team there is a small group of Spaniards and they always tend to be quite united”, concludes Elizondo, who started in the small Epsilon Euskadi project and is already among the best.

Waiting for the Aston Martin, his Aston Martin, the Aston Martin of about twenty Spaniards, Alonso's Aston Martin to fight for victories in the World Cup.

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