Renault's returning champion Fernando Alonso is completing demonstration laps in his 2005 title-winning car across the Abu Dhabi GP weekend; R25 car was from the last F1 season when noisy 3-litre, V10 engines were allowed in F1
Friday 11 December 2020 17:29, UK
Fernando Alonso evoked memories of a more raucous era of Formula 1 car with a demonstration run in his title-winning 2005 Renault and its V10 engine at the Abu Dhabi GP.
The Spaniard is returning to F1 next year with the same team with which he won his two world titles in the mid-2000s - and is being reunited with the first of his championship machines, the iconic blue and yellow R25, at F1's season finale.
Watch - and, more crucially, listen - to Alonso's run on the Yas Marina circuit on Friday in the video above as he let rip with the car's 3.0-litre, V10 normally-aspirated engine.
F1's engines are now smaller, quieter and significantly more efficient than they were in 2005, the last season of the V10 era.
It was the same car that Alonso raced in the final six races of the 2005 campaign, including his title-clinching drive at the Brazilian GP and his final win of the year at the following final round in China.
The demonstration run for the team's returning hero is being used as a symbolic sign-off for the final race under the Renault team name in F1. The Enstone outfit is being rebranded as Alpine from 2021, the French manufacturer's sportscar division.
Alonso, who had not driven the car since the 2005 campaign, tweeted:
The Spaniard is completing more demonstration laps on Saturday and Sunday.
Alonso will swap the 2005 machine for Renault's current challenger when he appears in Tuesday's one-day 'young driver test' at the same circuit. Although he is 39 years old and vastly experienced, Alonso has been given dispensation by the FIA to test after two years off the grid.
The two-time champion first drove the RS20 in a filming day at Barcelona in October, while he has also completed laps in the Middle East in Renault's 2018 car.
