The celebrity of Jean Alesi is not a legend. While attending the Grand Prix de France Historique *, he greets, talks, responds to the many “Hello!” “; in short, he honors his reputation as an approachable and generous man.
Jean Alesi’s modesty is not a legend either. All you have to do is ask him for two minutes and, in the end, he grants a quarter of an hour! Emblematic F1 driver of the 90s, he raced 201 Grands Prix, lined up 32 podiums, climbed to the top step once (Canada 1995). Above all, he wore the colors of Ferrari. However, he says he had “the chance to race with legendary pilots, Prost, Senna …” forgetting in passing that his panache has long made him an icon of combativeness.
The public, eager for generosity and risk-taking, has always loved the course of this instinctive pilot, always on the lookout for a mouse hole to slip the muzzle of his machine. This made him a terror of the starting lines.
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Alesi, at 57, remains a man of heart, fiery, pilot, passionate. And lucid. He could well “come out of the pits” with the current machines, but admits that he would be unable to get the most out of them. Interested and enthusiastic about the future of motorsports, which is predicted to be electric, he nevertheless takes a cold look at current career challenges. The only time when prudence dominates. His advice to the future young wolves of F1? Try, yes, because you have to live your dreams. But stop, if it doesn’t work, before going into the wall! Alesi, who was long believed reckless, is in fact just brave? Certainly. In the 90s, that was perhaps the key to having a life after a career in F1 …
* The Grand Prix de France Historique took place on June 11, 12 and June 13 on the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet.
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