February 17th, 2011

F1’s Alonso Feared for Injured Kubica

Two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso tells CNN’s Don Riddell of his “shock and surprise” on hearing Robert Kubica’s crash in Italy.

FULL TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS:

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Don Riddell: How did you feel when you heard about Robert Kubica recently and his accident ? You’re quite friendly with him aren’t you?

Alonso: We know each other now for fifteen years because we were racing together in go-kart. Obviuosly it was a surprise, a shock to hear about his accident. And the first moments, to be honest, speaking with his manager, it was not so clear, the programme, and it was also not so clear that he was perfectly okay and that he would survive. I tried to arrive to the hospital and hear first hand what exactly was the injuries. Now it seems that he is recovering well, so we hope to see Kubica very, very soon racing with us.

Don Riddell: There was some criticism that he was rallying at all. He would say that he wanted to rally to keep himself fresh. What is your view on that?

Alonso: Well I think he is right. To be honest all the things we do everyday there is something with risk. You know, I train everyday with a bicycle. It was two weeks ago, a friend of mine who was coming with me with the bike. There was a truck that came maybe one centimetre from us here on the shoulder. You know if this happen a few metres ahead of us maybe we crash with that car, so maybe that day people say “Okay, bicycle is dangerous. Right, you’re going to astray at home twenty-four hours a day.” It’s impossible for us. We need to spend some time out, some adrenaline out and rally is one of the sports, for driver point of view, is good for training so… difficult.