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Alonso: 'Ferrari gives you a special feeling'

Fernando Alonso has been the centre of media attention during pre-season testing in Spain © Sutton Images

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Fernando Alonso believed his career had hit a pinnacle when he won his two world championships for Renault. But he has revealed, in an interview with the Guardian, that it was his father who persuaded him to make the move to Ferrari.

"My father always told me this would happen," Alonso said. "He said, 'If you race for Ferrari then you can retire. Your life is complete.' So after I won my two championships for Renault I said, 'I'm happy now - my career is complete.' And he said, 'No, no, if you drive for Ferrari people will forget the championships. They will remember you as a Ferrari driver.' I said, 'OK, Papa, we'll see.' Now I think he was right. Ferrari gives you a special feeling."

The Spaniard who has enjoyed highs and lows of popularity, attracted over 36,000 fans to attend pre-season testing in Valencia - that is more people than attended the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix.

"It was a hard battle when I started," Alonso says. "There was nothing. When I raced at Minardi in my first year [2001] my family had to watch me on German TV. In Spain there were no TV rights for F1. Now I think the attention on me here will go up even more. But the biggest difficulty will be outside Spain. When I race in Australia or Korea or Japan I know it will be a big change for me because Ferrari fans are worldwide. It's very nice if you win but it's not so good if you lose. All this is part of being a Ferrari driver."

He believes that his turbulent year at McLaren in 2007, struggling for supremacy with Lewis Hamilton, has prepared him well for the challenges he will face at his new team.

"It was very difficult but I learnt a lot personally. It was good for my career to take that step of joining them [McLaren] and growing up. I learnt how to work with a team and also to withstand the media pressure. The difficulties I had were coming from the team and the media. Now I am much more prepared for everything in Formula One - and in life as well."

Alonso has never been far from the controversies that have hit the sport in recent years. In 2007 he gave information to the FIA about the Spygate affair, which lead to McLaren being fined $100m and excluded from that year's championship. He also, unwittingly, benefitted from Crashgate, winning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix after gaining an advantage from the safety car deployed after Nelson Piquet Jnr's accident.

He is heading into the 2010 season with confidence, and recently claimed that the Ferrari F10 is the best car he has ever driven. "I knew [last year] I was only fighting for seventh or eighth but it was important to learn from that. I have no doubt I am a better driver now."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.