Fernando Alonso Is Banned From Driving the Papamobile in Spain and Is Waiting for a New Opportunity

The Asturian pilot was denied the opportunity to be the Pope's driver in 2011 during his visit to Spain and hopes to achieve it this time

The ban in 2011 for Alonso

Amid the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV to Spain in June of this year, a funny anecdote about one of the Formula One drivers came to light. It is about Fernando Alonso being denied the opportunity to drive the Popemobile during the visit of the highest authority of the Catholic Church to Spain in 2011. It was during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Asturian's country when, according to Yago de la Cierva, then the trip coordinator for the Pope, revealed that the Vatican refused to let the Spanish Formula One driver be the chauffeur for the guest.

The response from the organizers

Yago de la Cierva recounted how the rejection by the authorities was: "In that 2011 meeting, we explicitly asked if Fernando Alonso could drive the Popemobile. They raised a huge fuss. They told us: No way!" said the person in charge, but he responded ironically to the rejection, "I said, I think he knows how to drive, I think the Pope is not in danger."

A new possibility

All of this was in connection with the Pope's new visit to Spain this year, and this time the possibility of Fernando Alonso driving the Popemobile has been raised again. In this regard, Yago de la Cierva commented, "We are going to try many things because... it adds flavor to the visit and it makes a lot of sense. The Pope's visit has major segments that the Holy Father has to decide on, but within those major segments, there will be surprises," assured the visit coordinator.