Fernando Alonso
Who was Fernando Alonso?
Spanish Formula One driver who won world championships in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, becoming the youngest champion at the time and Spain's first F1 world champion.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Fernando Alonso (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Fernando Alonso Díaz was born on July 29, 1981, in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain, to a working-class family. He started kart racing at seven and quickly showed great talent, winning the CIK-FIA Five Continents Cup in 1996. As he moved up through junior formulas, he won the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 and finished fourth in International Formula 3000. He signed with the Minardi team for the 2001 Formula One season, making his debut at the Australian Grand Prix. Though he didn't score any points in his first season, he showed promise for the future. After joining Renault as a test driver, he secured a full-time race seat in 2003. That year, he set records by becoming the youngest ever polesitter at the Malaysian Grand Prix and the youngest race winner at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Alonso's career hit a high in 2005 when he won seven races and clinched the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. He became Spain's first Formula One world champion and the youngest champion at age 24. He defended his title in 2006, beating Michael Schumacher, solidifying his status as a top driver. He moved to McLaren for 2007, where a challenging season with rookie Lewis Hamilton saw both drivers narrowly lose the championship to Kimi Räikkönen by one point. Alonso returned to Renault in 2008, winning races like the controversial Singapore Grand Prix. After a tough 2009 season, he joined Ferrari.
During his time at Ferrari from 2010 to 2014, Alonso was consistently excellent, even though the team rarely had a car that could win the championship. He was runner-up to Sebastian Vettel in 2010 and narrowly missed the title again in 2012. During a frustrating period with McLaren-Honda from 2015 to 2018, where the cars were often uncompetitive, Alonso focused more on endurance racing. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 2018 and 2019 with Toyota and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019. He also clinched the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship, making him the only driver to win both the Formula One and World Endurance Drivers' Championships.
Alonso returned to Formula One full-time in 2021 with Alpine and later joined Aston Martin for the 2023 season, still competing at the top level in his forties. Off the track, he was married to Spanish singer Raquel del Rosario. He is a vegetarian and has been honored in his hometown of Oviedo, where he was named Dearest Son in 2005. That year, he also received the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports and the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit, two of Spain's top honors.
Before Fame
Fernando Alonso grew up in Oviedo, the capital of Asturias in northern Spain, in a modest working-class family. His father, who worked with mining explosives and was an amateur kart enthusiast, got him into karting at age seven, building and repairing karts himself to save money. Alonso quickly showed talent and started competing in regional and national events throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. He won the Spanish junior karting championship several times and claimed the CIK-FIA Five Continents Cup in 1996 at fifteen, impressing people in the motorsport world.
In 1999, at seventeen, Alonso moved into single-seater racing and won the Euro Open by Nissan series in his first season. He then finished fourth in the International Formula 3000 in 2000, racing against drivers who would later join him in Formula One. His performances caught the eye of Flavio Briatore, the Renault team principal, who helped Alonso join the Minardi team for 2001 before bringing him to Renault as a test driver. This planned progress through the junior levels set the stage for his quick rise to the top of the sport.
Key Achievements
- Won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 2005 and 2006 with Renault
- Became Spain's first Formula One world champion and the then-youngest champion in the sport's history
- Won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 2018 and 2019, with Toyota
- Claimed the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship, becoming the only driver to hold both the F1 and WEC titles
- Won 32 Formula One Grands Prix across a career spanning more than two decades
Did You Know?
- 01.Alonso attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 2017, narrowly missing the race after a late engine failure during qualifying, in pursuit of motorsport's unofficial Triple Crown.
- 02.He won the CIK-FIA Five Continents Karting Cup in 1996 at just fifteen years old, competing against representatives from across the globe.
- 03.Alonso is the only driver in history to have won both the Formula One World Drivers' Championship and the FIA World Endurance Drivers' Championship.
- 04.His 2006 title defense against Michael Schumacher came down to the final races of the season, with Alonso ultimately prevailing by thirteen points.
- 05.Alonso's hometown of Oviedo awarded him the title of Dearest Son of the City in 2005, the same year he won his first Formula One world championship and received the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Princess of Asturias Award for Sports | 2005 | — |
| Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit | — | — |
| Dearest Son of Oviedo | 2005 | — |