Jesús Calleja is one of Spain’s foremost adventurers. In the world of sports, he is known for his numerous participations in the Dakar Rally. But there is another facet for which Calleja is recognized: his friendship with Fernando Alonso. A relationship that began during the driver’s visits to Calleja’s television show and was solidified at the Dakar.
Now Calleja has granted an interview to the Spanish newspaper Marca in which he describes his relationship with Alonso, and also his views on the new Formula 1. The TV personality acknowledges being disillusioned with Alonso’s Aston Martin, but especially with the new technical regulations of Formula 1.
Jesús Calleja clears up the intrigue about whether he will return to race the Dakar
Jesús Calleja does not know what his motor racing career will be. The León-born driver acknowledges that he feels like returning to race the Dakar, but he believes that to do so “you have to swallow what the FIA imposes”. Calleja disagrees with the FIA’s decision to relocate slower drivers who have paid more, forcing the faster ones to overtake them.
Calleja recalls that he warned there would be an accident, with such bad luck that he experienced it himself right afterwards. “I have lost the war, because nothing has changed, so we will have to pay,” Calleja says about a future Dakar participation that he is already preparing, but it is not finalized yet.
About his friend Fernando Alonso, Calleja does not hide his displeasure with the situation at Aston Martin, lamenting that “they tell us not to expect too much, but how are we supposed to do that! He hopes that in August we will see a different car.” Although, in any case, Calleja confesses that this Formula 1 doesn’t motivate him very much.
“If I am working anywhere in the world, I have calculated the exact time I need to log in to watch the race live, no matter what. But that excitement I had this year faded away. Now I think about what’s worth watching…“, Calleja confesses. The León native admits that he is “really fed up” with what is happening.
“Fernando always said that racing had to be very simple: let’s see who can run the most. There shouldn’t be any other parameter besides that. But now it’s the car that decides what to do. Have you seen anywhere that they race in a straight line, decelerating so that you have energy to exit the corner? It’s an incomprehensible riddle,” concludes Calleja.
Definitely, to the TV personality it seems that nobody understands Formula 1. “I don’t quite understand it. The issue of kilowatts, whether you take them away or add them…”.
Images | Aston Martin, Jesús Calleja
