When Alonso surprised the locals in Austin

Fernando Alonso’s US Grand Prix weekend may have been spent largely focusing on the serious business of his title bid but the Ferrari driver did have a chance for some light relief during an event in the heart of Austin.

As part of a promotional appearance for the team’s fuel partner Shell, the double world champion visited one of the firm’s petrol stations in the state to surprise an unsuspecting local customer who had pulled into the garage to fill up his car.

After getting over the shock of having his car filled up by Alonso, Pedro Solis was presented with a year’s worth of Shell V-Power Premium Gasoline, which is the road car equivalent of the fuel used in Ferrari’s F2012.

“It’s always fun to take part in an event like this leading up to a big race,” Alonso said.

“We also got a chance to talk about how similar the fuel we will use is to the Shell V-Power that they’ll get to fill up their car with for free for the next year.”