During the pre-season Alonso trained between three and four hours a day - including indoor exercises (gymnasium and heated swimming pool) and outdoor - (mountain bike and jogging) as well as other sports like tennis and football which is one of his favourites. Once the GP�s begin the amount drops quite considerably, owing to the trips and the efforts made in the races and the weekend as a whole. The only thing he does on a GP weekend, for example are strectching exercises, neck flexibilty exercises and a little swimming to stimulate the body.

Edoardo Bendinelli and Fabrizio Maganzi are the physical trainers for the Renault team. "Fernando is better than ever" says Edoardo. "He is like an athlete who could run 100, 200 and 400 metre races. In the sprint he has clocked a 11.9 manually and the longest sprint he has done in 57.5, a significant figure for somebody who is not a specialist" he adds. He is not too bad at cycling either. "In winte we were with him in Asturias and we climbed the famous Angliru mountain. We rode for three hours at a good pace" Fabrizio recalled.

The Renault driver also has an outstanding pulse rate. When resting he has only 50 and when running at his normal pace 160 per minute. It reaches its highest point on the lasp just before he enters the pits. "The highest we have ever taken is 218" says Edoardo. All this means that Alonso is one of the fittest drivers in F1, something that helps him in races. In some, owing to the heat and the effort demanded by the sport, he can lose up to three kilos.