Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (Oviedo, Asturias, July 29, 1981) is a Spanish racing driver, awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in 2005. He has won the Formula 1 World Championship twice. in 2005 and 2006, he was runner-up in 2010, 2012 and 2013, and obtained third place in 2007. He was champion of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2019, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 and 2019, the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019 and the Karting World Championship in 1996.
In his career he has competed for the Minardi, Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, Alpine and Aston Martin teams, being the Maranello team his team from 2010 to 2014, where he achieved his three runners-up finishes and his only Grand Chelem. He left Ferrari and in 2015 he returned to McLaren with his Honda engine until he retired in 2018. After two years out of the category, in 2021 he returned with the Alpine team, part of the Renault family, with which he won his two championships.. Since 2023 he has been part of the Aston Martin team, replacing Sebastian Vettel.
In addition to competing in this category, he has driven in the 2017, 2019 and 2020 Indianapolis 500 with McLaren, leading the race in his first participation, in the 2018 Daytona 24 Hours with a Ligier for United Autosports, in the 2019 Daytona 24 Hours in a Cadillac for Wayne Taylor Racing, and in the 2018-19 World Endurance Championship and 2020 Dakar Rally for Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Fernando Alonso is the seventh driver with the most victories in the history of Formula 1 with 32 grand prix wins and the sixth driver with the most podiums: 100. His victories include three at the Malaysian Grand Prix, three at the German Grand Prix, three at the European Grand Prix and three at the Bahrain Grand Prix. In 2017, he is included in the FIA Hall of Fame. In 2019 he enters the FIA Hall of Fame again, this time as WEC champion, becoming the first driver in history to being a member of the Hall of Fame twice for belonging to the list of champions of two different FIA categories.
Along with Alfonso de Portago, Pedro de la Rosa and Carlos Sainz Jr., he is one of the four Spaniards who have reached the podium in Formula 1, being together with the latter the only ones who have achieved victories. He is also the only driver in history to debut with three different teams obtaining a podium, McLaren (2007), Scuderia Ferrari (2010) and Aston Martin (2023), and one of the four drivers who have debuted at Ferrari with victory. in the first race (together with Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Kimi Räikkönen).
Trajectory
Beginnings
Fernando Alonso Díaz began his career in the motorsport world at a very young age watching his childhood idol Ayrton Senna, it was then that his father gave him a kart that he himself had built for his daughter at first, although she was not interested in the vehicle because it was rotax and that is why it ended up in Fernando's hands when she was only 3 years old. In that year she won her first race and began training after school classes with her father, who He worked as manager and mechanic. A year later he obtained the official license from the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation.
In 1988, at the age of seven, he obtained his first title in an official competition, the Asturias children's championship, winning the eight races that the event consisted of. A year later, in 1989, he once again became the Asturias and Galicia kart champion.
Due to the category changes, the family could not afford the expenses that the races entailed. Close to abandonment, the kart importer Genís Marcó took charge of the financing: he provided the karts, looked for sponsors or acted as such himself, saving Fernando Alonso's sports career. In 1991 he was proclaimed champion of Asturias and the Basque Country in the cadet category, reaching runner-up in Spain even without participating in all the races. He was champion of Spain in 1993 and 1994 as a junior, which allowed him to compete in the World Championship the following year, with a scholarship from the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation. In said championship he was third.
In 1996 he was proclaimed champion of Spain, the Italian Summer Trophy, the Marlboro Grand Prix and the Junior World Championship. The following year, he won the championships in Spain, Italy and Europe in the International A category. In 1998, he again won the Spanish championship, the Paris-Bercy Trophy, the Italian Industry Championship and the Open Ford.
In 1999, the former Minardi driver, Adrián Campos, entered the scene and would become his manager. He signed him as a substitute for Marc Gené in the Euro Open by Nissan, in which Alonso achieved 6 pole positions, 5 fastest laps and 6 victories that ultimately gave him the Euro Open Movistar championship that year.
From Formula Nissan he went to International Formula 3000 in the Team Astromega team. Alonso took pole and won the Belgian race and came second in the Hungarian race. Therefore, he placed fourth in the general classification in the year of his debut, behind Bruno Junqueira, Nicolas Minassian and Mark Webber.
Formula 1
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Minardi (2001)
2001: the debut
Ferrari took an interest in him, reaching a verbal agreement with Jean Todt to act as a test driver and train at Prost. After this verbal agreement, Flavio Briatore offered him to sign for Renault. In this way, Alonso went to Formula 1 signed by Renault but on loan to Minardi as official driver. With Minardi he made his debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix, being the third youngest driver to do so, and also beating a Benetton in clue. His best qualifying with Minardi was a 10th place finish at the German Grand Prix. In the Spanish Grand Prix he surprised by being ahead of the Benettons. At the Japanese Grand Prix, he overtook Olivier Panis's BAR and was ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Prost, thus completing the best race of the season. He did the entire season and had two teammates, with whom he was much more superior.
Renault (2002-2006)
2002: fitting room
In 2002 his loan to Minardi ended and he was recovered by Flavio Briatore as a test driver for Renault for the 2002 season. The following year he became the team's official driver to the detriment of Jenson Button, who signed for the team BAR. Alonso has always said that he regrets that season as a tester, since it was a lost year where he could have competed. During that year he had the opportunity to do a test with Jaguar at the Silverstone circuit, although this did not transpire in his career.
2003: the first victory
His first race with Renault resulted in a seventh place finish at the 2003 Australian GP, thus scoring his first points in the top flight. On March 22, 2003, he became the youngest driver to achieve a pole position and a podium in Formula 1, at the age of 21, at the Malaysian Grand Prix, despite the fact that that weekend he had a fever of 39º. At the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix he suffered the most serious accident in his stay in Formula 1 when he collided with the wall on lap 55 after hitting a wheel of Mark Webber's car, which had suffered a crash earlier and had scattered the wreckage of his car across the track. However, this mishap did not prevent him from getting a new podium, as the race ended with his mishap, and the final positions were established one lap before the accident.
In the next race, the San Marino Grand Prix, he was in sixth position. In the Spanish Grand Prix he occupies the second step of the podium. After this comes his first withdrawal at Renault, during the Austrian Grand Prix he broke the engine when he was in the points after starting from the pits. After this fiasco he achieved a fifth position in Monaco and two consecutive fourth places in the races in Canada (where he also set his first fastest lap) and Europe. After this good run, there are two consecutive retirements in the Grand Prix of France and the United Kingdom. At the German Grand Prix he is fourth again.
On August 24 of the same year, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, he became the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix, at the age of 22, although Sebastian Vettel would later surpass him in precocity by winning the Italian Grand Prix 2008. At the Italian Grand Prix he got his last point of the 2003 season, finishing eighth after starting last and suffering an accident at the start. At the United States Grand Prix he suffered an engine failure. In the last race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix, he also broke his engine when he was in second place. He finished the 2003 season in sixth place in the Drivers' Championship. Already then Briatore, in an interview, hinted at Renault's plans to go further and fight for the title in 2004. Later we would see that we only had to wait for 2005.
2004: year of confirmation
The 2004 Formula 1 season started well for the Asturian driver, as he finished third in the first race in Melbourne. Midway through the season, Alonso took pole position and second place at Magny Cours. A little later he achieved two more consecutive podium finishes at Hockenheim and the Hungaroring. He did not add any victories that season, in addition to having a series of retirements while riding in podium positions, as happened in Monaco, in which he was riding behind his teammate, Jarno Trulli, leader of the Grand Prix, until he met Ralf Schumacher in the middle of the tunnel, who, by making way for him in a confusing way, caused the Spaniard to hit the barriers, causing him to lose the podium. Similar abandonments were consummated in Canada, when he left the track and could not return; in the United States, where the Asturian driver achieved one of the best starts in history, climbing from ninth place at the start to reaching third place in the first corner, retiring due to a puncture and the consequent impact against the barriers only a couple of round after; At Spa, while both Renaults were in the lead, an oil leak on his car caused him to spin and end up on the gravel in another race in which the podium options were clear; and in Monza he retired after spinning on the Ascari variant, while running second followed by Button and Schumacher, and getting stuck in the gravel. However, he finished the season with more points than in 2003, taking fourth place in the drivers' championship, with a series of good results at the end of the season, including a strong fourth place in the last race of the year, held at Interlagos, after fighting the whole race for the podium.
2005: the first title
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On March 20, 2005, in the Malaysian GP (second of the season), Fernando Alonso achieved his second victory and also became the first Spanish driver to lead the drivers' championship and, at the end of the season, also the first Spaniard to be F1 World Champion. Alonso also managed to win in the two following races, the Bahrain Grand Prix and the San Marino Grand Prix.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, held on May 8, Alonso had problems with a tire, but he managed to finish second. On May 22, at the Monaco Grand Prix, he finished fourth due to a multi-driver accident that caused him to pit. In the European Grand Prix, held on May 29 at the Nürburgring, Alonso achieved another victory, after having qualified in sixth position.
On June 12, at the Canadian Grand Prix, the Spanish driver had to retire due to hitting a wall. On June 19, 2005, at a controversial United States Grand Prix in which only raced six cars, Alonso had to retire on the warm-up lap, like all the Michelin teams.
At the French Grand Prix, held on July 3, Alonso achieved another victory. On July 10, at the British Grand Prix, the Asturian driver finished second, after having obtained pole position the day before. At the German Grand Prix, held on July 24 at Hockenheimring, Alonso achieved his sixth victory of the season. On July 31, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso could only reach eleventh position after colliding with Ralf Schumacher's Toyota in the first corner, which meant that the Spaniard had to enter the pits and change the front wing. During the broadcast of this race, Telecinco broadcast the song "Magic Alonso", by the singer Melendi. Melendi went with Alonso to his school for a year and dedicated the song to him for his 24th anniversary.
At the Turkish Grand Prix, held on August 21 at the new Istanbul circuit, Alonso reached the finish line in second place, after Juan Pablo Montoya had a collision with a bent rider and left the track. At the Italian Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix, Alonso achieved another two second places.
On September 25, 2005, after the Brazilian GP, Alonso made history by becoming the first Spaniard and the youngest driver, at the age of 24, to be crowned Formula 1 world champion, an honor that until then held by Emerson Fittipaldi. In addition, in the same season he won the constructors' championship, together with Giancarlo Fisichella, for the Renault team.
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The seventh victory of the season, achieved in the Chinese Grand Prix, earned him to equal the number of victories of Kimi Räikkönen (second in the drivers' championship), which would also mean his victory with the previous points system.
On September 6, 2005, he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports as the jury considered that "he has managed to reach the top of his sporting specialty after years of great sacrifices and resignations with the sole support of his family in the beginnings of his career and is today an example for Spanish and world youth. His career is the consequence of his firm will to win.” The award was presented to him on October 21.
In December 2005, it was announced that the driver would leave the Renault team to race with the colors of McLaren, his new team from 2007. On June 21, 2006, he received the title of Favorite Son of the city from Oviedo.
2006: champion again
The 2006 season began on March 12 with the Bahrain Grand Prix, in which Fernando Alonso would win. A week later, Alonso was second behind Giancarlo Fisichella, confirming Renault's good form. The Spaniard prevailed again at the Australian Grand Prix, where it would be confirmed that this season Alonso's biggest opponent would be Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, who would win the next two Grands Prix in San Marino and Europe.
At the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso won again, taking the first Grand Prix victory for a Spaniard in his country. Thus, the Spaniard consolidated his leadership of the drivers' championship in the following three races, in which he achieved first position: the Monaco Grands Prix, the United Kingdom (where he achieved his first triplet) and Canada.
Ferrari denounced Renault in the middle of the season for the use of the mass-damper with the aim of giving Renault no time to react. Despite everything, Renault managed to redesign the car and win both titles. The mass-damper was not outlawed for technical reasons but for a form defect. Any modification of the car has to be notified in time to the stewards and they must give their approval. Thus, the Oviedo's good run ended at the United States Grand Prix, where he finished in fifth position, missing the podium for the first time since the last fifteen races, with engine problems. It was Michael Schumacher who took the win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The German also won the French Grand Prix, where Fernando finished second, and Germany, where the Asturian finished fifth again, the Asturian having already lost a good part of his advantage over the German.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix Fernando Alonso was penalized for his actions in free practice, described by the FIA as "unnecessary, unacceptable and dangerous". Thus, Alonso started from fifteenth position in a race where the rain was present. Fernando Alonso managed to climb from fifteenth to the first position, but after the second refueling, a mechanics error with the nut of one of his tires forced him to abandon the race, in which Schumacher was eighth to cut Alonso a point.
In the Turkish Grand Prix he achieved second position, behind Felipe Massa and ahead of Michael Schumacher whom he held off in the last few laps. At the Italian Grand Prix he would be penalized for "obstructing" Massa's fastest lap, and subsequently broke the engine of his R26 during the race, losing ten points to Schumacher.
At the Chinese Grand Prix, Alonso took pole position. Already in the middle of the race, he lost time due to two mistakes in the pit. Finally, after completing several fast laps, he finished behind Michael Schumacher, who finished first. Thus, both pilots were tied at 116 points, with Schumacher winning advantage. In the Japanese Grand Prix Felipe Massa obtained the pole position Michael Schumacher would start second much better than Alonso who starts in the third row, the Asturian driver from the start is a fury which he gains a position, on the thirteenth lap he overtakes Ralf Schumacher one lap later Fernando is in second position, but Michael Schumacher is always there, in front of everyone, with a difference that even after the pit stop gives him peace of mind. With 17 laps to go, the history of the 2006 World Cup is fulfilled, unexpected smoke, a long and inexorable gray trail coming out of the Ferrari engine, after six years Michael Schumacher breaks the engine, the myth of the reliability of red cars is broken and with it go the world dreams of the German. Fernando Alonso leads the race, wins and after Suzuka he is already virtually world champion, Alonso takes ten points from Michael Schumacher, On October 22 the Brazilian Grand Prix was only a mere formality With second place in São Paulo, Alonso was proclaimed two-time world champion, the Brazilian Grand Prix, which would also be Michael Schumacher's last race, before his return in 2010.
McLaren (2007)
2007: third in a year full of controversy
The MP4/22, Alonso's new car, was presented on January 15 at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, with a great staging. In his first race of 2007 with McLaren, the Australian GP, he is second behind the Finn Kimi Räikkönen and ahead of Lewis Hamilton. On April 8, he achieved his first victory with the Anglo-German team at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix, ahead of Hamilton and Räikkönen. In Bahrain he is fifth after a difficult race, thus being tied with Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen on twenty-two points.
At the 2007 Spanish Grand Prix, Alonso finished third behind Massa and Hamilton after a collision with the Brazilian at the start. On May 27, Alonso and Hamilton achieved the second double for McLaren at the Monaco Grand Prix, being the Oviedo first, the British second and Massa third, while Räikkönen finished eighth. After the race, the FIA inspected the McLaren team for alleged team orders to favor Alonso to the detriment of Hamilton, but no action was taken against the team or the driver.
At the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, the Spaniard finished seventh after a rough race, in which he had to refuel with the safety car on the track, for which he was penalized 9 s stop & go, due to the new ban on refueling with the safety car, on the track. After the penalty he climbed up several positions to finally finish in seventh place. Thus, Alonso lost the lead in favor of Lewis Hamilton, winner of the race.
At Indianapolis, he finished second behind Hamilton, failing to pass the English driver with 24 laps to go in the race. Then at the French Grand Prix he had to extend from tenth position in Q3 due to brake problems without setting any time while Hamilton extended in third position and Räikkönen led in second position. In which Alonso would finish in seventh position while Hamilton third and Räikkönen getting the victory. In the European Grand Prix, he achieved another victory ahead of Felipe Massa. Räikkönen and Hamilton failed to score. Thus, the Spaniard managed to cut the gap with the Briton from twelve to two points.
In Hungary he was penalized for losing five grid positions for having deliberately blocked Lewis Hamilton in the pits during qualifying, preventing Hamilton from going one more lap and taking pole. During those seconds, he was asking his team to explain why they were putting used hard tires on him, when Hamilton was getting new soft tires. Thus, Hamilton won again, while Alonso was only fourth. The Spaniard achieved third place in Turkey, behind Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen, with the British fourth. At the Italian Grand Prix he achieved a triplet (pole position, fastest lap and victory), ahead of Hamilton and Räikkönen. In Belgium, he finished third, again ahead of his teammate, trailing by two points.
At the Japanese Grand Prix, Alonso was forced to retire after a violent crash against the wall that rendered his car useless, due to the constant rain and fog; in China it was his teammate who was forced to retire, having run off the track at the pit entrance and found himself stuck in the gravel. Alonso finished second, behind Kimi Räikkönen, just four points behind the Englishman for the final race of the season.
At the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, the last round of the championship, he was able to overtake Lewis Hamilton at the start, who had also been overtaken by Räikkönen. When the Englishman tried to regain third position, he went off track, losing several positions, and later, with a problem in his transmission, he was relegated to last position. After Kimi Räikkönen overtook Felipe Massa, the Finn was crowned world champion with 110 points. Alonso finished the race third and Hamilton, seventh. In this way, Hamilton and Alonso tied for the championship, but Hamilton, despite the fact that it was his first season, was runner-up for having achieved second place more than the two-time Spanish champion.
On November 2, the driver's representative made public the termination of his contract with the Anglo-German team, and that this would not mean paying any compensation.
Renault (2008-2009)
On December 10, 2007, Alonso announced his return to Renault for the 2008 season, having signed a contract with the French team. His teammate during 2008 would be the Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr. did not know; various sources had assured that the contract with Renault would last for one, two and three years. In statements to the German press, the pilot declared having signed a "very flexible" contract; until 2009. Some media claimed that Alonso would be free to leave the team the following year depending on the results.
2008 began irregularly for the Oviedo native, as he achieved a good result in the Australian Grand Prix (4th place), but, on the other hand, after an improvable start, he did not manage to get past 8th place in the Grand Malaysian Prize and could only be tenth in Bahrain. From what was seen so far, he didn't look like he could be among the best drivers this season, as the car was not competitive enough. However, the team promised improvements for the Spanish Grand Prix, where Alonso qualified 2nd only to end up breaking the engine when he was running third. In Turkey, however, he confirmed the improvement of the R28 and finished sixth after a great start. In Monaco, Fernando has a lot of problems in the rain, as well as making a mistake, and fails to get points. In Montreal he has problems with the gearbox, which together with a spin make him abandon. At Magny-Cours, after a good qualifying, Alonso can only be eighth due to a bad start and a wrong strategy. Even so, he managed to score his 500th point in F1. The Spaniard's average is 4.46 points per race, only bettered by that of Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio. At Silverstone, Alonso achieved a good 6th place, after doing a great job in the rain. However, in Hockenheim, luck continued not to accompany him and he completed another Sunday to be forgotten. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso managed to match his best result of the season (4th). However, at the 2008 European Grand Prix, the Asturian accused the lack of grip on the Valencia urban circuit and the defects of the R28 and was left out of Q3 after ten races. On race day, Kazuki Nakajima rear-ended him on the first lap, destroying his rear wing, for which he was forced to retire. At the Belgian Grand Prix, however, he achieved fourth place. In Monza, the Spanish rider puts in another great performance and repeats fourth place.
In the first night Grand Prix in history, in Singapore, Alonso was victorious despite starting 15th; thanks to the good behavior of the car and having refueled a large amount of fuel just before the accident of his teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr., which caused the safety car to come out, gaining many positions when other drivers entered the pit lane to refuel. A year after the victory of the Spanish, Piquet Jr, declared that the crash was deliberate and ordered by the leadership of the team, in what became known as Crashgate. The sanction for this cheating was the disqualification of Renault for 2 years (which was suspended) and the suspensions of Pat Symonds (for 5 years) and Flavio Briatore (for life) from any event related to Formula 1.
He repeated his victory at the Japanese Grand Prix, ahead of the Polish Robert Kubica (BMW) and the Finnish Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari). Alonso's victory was practically forged in the first corner, when the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Finn Heikki Kovalainen over-braked in the first corner and forced the Ferraris to go wide to avoid the collision, forming all chaos behind them. Then he had a tough fight with Kubica, whom he led by 13 s between refueling stops with a pace that allowed him to win easily. Alonso culminated his great end of the season with a fourth place in China and a second in Brazil, which earned him to finish fifth in the general classification. These good results in the final stretch, and the impossibility of signing yet for Ferrari, lead him to announce his renewal with the team for 2009 and 2010, it is conditioned on the results and the possibility of going to the Italian team.
Fernando Alonso continued one more season with Renault with Nelson Piquet, Jr. as his teammate. At the start of the championship, Alonso and Renault were optimistic and the Spanish driver started well, with a 5th place in the Australian Grand Prix after having started 10th, but little by little he lost steam after an 11th place in the rainy Grand Prix. Malaysian Prize and a 9th after a strategic failure in the Chinese Grand Prix. In Bahrain he returned to the points zone after being 8th. Later, in Montmeló he finished 5th and in Monaco he finished 7th. Between this period between Monaco and Belgium, the R29 is irregular, but ends up improving and fighting with the title contenders, although a dose of bad luck and problems in the pits prevent it from fighting for the podium. However, it was seen on certain occasions that the car was there, such as when it achieved pole at the Hungaroring or during the Spa race, where it was 3rd until a problem with the hubcap forced it to abandon. Then came the night race in Singapore, which was generating so much controversy after the accident of Nelson Piquet (who had already been fired and replaced by Romain Grosjean) in 2008. In Singapore, Alonso finally achieved the only podium of the year in a bad season in which Renault hardly worked to evolve the car due to the economic crisis.
On September 30, 2009, after much speculation, the Scuderia Ferrari issued a statement on its official website confirming the signing of Fernando Alonso for the next three seasons.
With the future resolved, Alonso set out to end his relationship with Renault in the best possible way but did not achieve good results in Japan (10th), Brazil (withdrew) or Abu Dhabi (14th). Thus, Alonso said goodbye after seven years at Renault without being able to achieve anything significant in his last season with a very uncompetitive car. It was his worst season since his debut at Minardi. For the 2010 season, both he and Grosjean (who had already replaced Piquet Jr.) were replaced by Kubica and rookie and GP2 winner Vitaly Petrov respectively.
Ferrari (2010-2014)
2010: runner-up in debut with Ferrari
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Fernando Alonso made his debut with Ferrari in the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship, finishing in second position.
In his debut with Ferrari in pre-season testing at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste, Fernando set the best time of the day.
In the first race of 2010, in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso started third behind his teammate Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel. He passed Massa at Turn 2; and on lap 34 he managed to gain the position from Vettel, due to the German suffering a loss of power in the Renault engine of his Red Bull RB6, with which he won his first race with Ferrari, equaling Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Kimi Räikkönen. In the second race of the season, the Australian GP, he finished in fourth position behind Jenson Button, Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa, after a comeback of 14 places in the race, motivated by an incident at the start with Button. A week later came the Malaysian GP, which he could not finish after suffering an engine failure on the penultimate lap, caused by a clutch failure that forced Alonso to force the engine excessively. In this race he lost the world championship lead, which was obtained by Felipe Massa.
At the Spanish Grand Prix he managed to qualify in 4th position and finish the race in 2nd place behind Mark Webber, thanks to the mechanical failure of Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull RB6 and the retirement of Lewis Hamilton in the last few laps. In Monaco he had to start last after having an accident in free practice and not being able to start in the qualifying session. He started 24th and finished 6th, surpassing the comeback record set by Michael Schumacher at the same circuit, where he also started last in 2006. In this case there were only 22 cars on the starting grid, and he finished the race 5th. The Turkish GP came 2 weeks later, and it was a race in which the Ferrari F10 did not perform as expected. He started 12th and finished 8th. In the Canadian GP, Alonso regained his competitiveness and almost achieved victory, but luck was not on his side with the laps and he finished 3rd behind the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton (winner) and Jenson Button (2nd).
The European GP in Valencia was disappointing for him. He was starting 4th and during the first few turns he was 3rd. After a serious accident involving Webber, in which the safety car came out, Alonso stayed behind it and this hindered his race, since the safety car was inserted between Hamilton and Alonso; but in a totally illegal manoeuvre, Lewis Hamilton overtook the safety car. He finally finished in 8th position in a controversial GP. In England, he suffered a penalty for skipping the chicane while overtaking Kubica, since the Polish driver defended his position and pushed him into the runaway, exceeding the limits of the circuit, which added to the start of a safety car condemns him to stay Without points. In the German GP, he started from 2nd position on the grid, after completing an excellent qualifying where he was only 2 thousandths of a second from pole position, which was achieved by Sebastian Vettel. Vettel defended his position from Alonso and Felipe Massa took advantage of that to lead the race; Fernando Alonso was second in the next corner after finally overtaking the German. Alonso tried to pass Massa taking advantage of some bends, but after the Spaniard's complaints about the ridiculousness of the situation (the possible accident between teammates), Massa's engineer told him: "Fernando is faster than you. He confirms that he understood the message & # 34;, a covert message for the Brazilian to give up his position without there being any risk of an incident between the teammates that could deprive Ferrari of the double. Massa, with 18 laps to go, allowed himself to be overtaken at turn 6 by reducing speed, and Fernando Alonso ended up taking the victory with just over 4 s over his teammate. Subsequently, the FIA investigated Alonso's overtaking of Massa, and the radio conversations between Massa's engineer and his pupil. They determined a financial sanction of 100,000 dollars to Scuderia Ferrari and a possible modification in the regulations at the next meeting of the World Council, in which team orders would finally be allowed again from 2011.
At the Hungarian GP, Fernando qualified in third position, behind the dominant Vettel and Webber. He finished the race 2nd after a great performance, holding off Vettel for almost 40 laps. In Belgium, he started tenth after a bad team strategy. He rallied after an incident on the first lap to 8th, but rain forced him to retire after spinning, crashing into the guardrails and breaking his right front suspension. The Asturian remained in 5th position, 41 points behind leader Hamilton and the title seemed like a pipe dream, but the Asturian driver said that he could still do it. Fernando arrived at the temple of the tifosi in Monza, and he did not disappoint. He took the first pole of the season after finishing ahead of Jenson Button and his teammate Felipe Massa. At the start, Button got the better of him at the first corner but then passed him after making a quicker pit stop than the Briton and managed to overtake him. He won the race and got his third win of the season.
F1 came to Singapore and Alonso got yet another pole after finishing ahead of Sebastian Vettel by 67 thousandths. After a very eventful Grand Prix, he managed to continue the entire race without changing his first position and achieve his second consecutive victory, accompanied by the fastest lap, the already mentioned pole and the lead in all laps, as well as that Alonso debuted his Grand Chelems box. The next destination was Japan, where the Spaniard finished 3rd, lapping many laps at the pace of the technically superior Red Bull. After all these results, Fernando was 14 points behind leader Mark Webber, and tied on points with Sebastian Vettel, but ahead of him for taking one more victory. The circus arrived at the new Yeongam circuit to compete in the Korean GP. Again after the Red Bull, a rainy race led to an accident for Webber and a final engine failure for Vettel, so Fernando climbed those positions and ended up winning the race, and also became the leader of the World Championship, with 11 points over Webber and 25 over Vettel. Alonso could already be proclaimed champion in Brazil, but that day the Red Bulls, again superior, did not fail and won a double, with Vettel in first position.
The season came to a close in Abu Dhabi, and Fernando Alonso led the World Championship with an 8-point advantage over Mark Webber, 15 over Sebastian Vettel and 24 over Lewis Hamilton, thus being the first time in history that 4 drivers reached the last race with options to win the title. Vettel took pole and easily won the race, so Alonso had to be 4th or better to take the title. But a mistaken strategy to mark Mark Webber caused the Spaniard to leave in the middle of traffic. In addition, some of the cars did not have to make more pit stops because they took advantage of the safety car on the first lap to make the mandatory stop. Thus, Alonso got stuck in the wake of Vitaly Petrov and spent 40 laps without being able to overtake him. That sank him and caused him to finish the race in 7th position, a result that was not worth it and led to Vettel winning the title. At the end of the championship, he won the DHL Fast Lap Trophy, which is awarded to who achieves the most fastest laps in a Formula 1 season. Fernando got that trophy thanks to 5 fastest laps during 2010.
2011: second season at Ferrari and impossibility of fighting for the title
After the grand finale of the 2010 season, expectations were high at first, but after the first few races of 2011 it became clear that the Ferrari 150º Italia was not as competitive as expected.
Fernando Alonso renewed with Scuderia Ferrari until 2016. With this renewal, Alonso took the opportunity to convey that Ferrari "will be the last team of my career in F1".
In the first race in Australia, Alonso starts fifth. At the start he tries to overtake Button, but he closes him and falls to ninth place. After battling with Massa, Button and Webber and trying to catch Vitaly Petrov's Lotus, Alonso is fourth. In Malaysia, Alonso had the opportunity to take his first podium of the season due to excellent tire care. But with a few laps to go, he collides with Hamilton and is sixth. In China he had a weak weekend and finished seventh. But in Turkey he had a brilliant race and finished third, being the only car capable of standing up to the two Red Bulls. In Montmeló it was the weekend where the deficiencies of the Ferrari were seen. He qualified fourth, a position that Alonso described as unreal, since he said that the maximum they could aspire to was seventh. In the race he took first at the start and led the race until lap 20. But finally the Ferrari deflated and he finished fifth and with a lost lap, being the first time since 2009 that he was doubled. In Monaco he overtook Webber at the start and Button in the strategy, who was three stops to two from Alonso. The Spaniard came second, close to Sebastian Vettel. In Canada he classified 2nd, his best classification of the year, but in the race Jenson Button had to come out of the pits and Alonso abandoned. In Valencia he passes Hamilton at the start and after a stifling fight with the Red Bulls, Alonso comes second. At Silverstone, Alonso took victory due to the problem in the pits of the two Red Bulls, a hellish pace on the soft tires and excellent care again with the tyres. In Germany he overtook Vettel at the start, then went off, but managed to regain the position. He passes Webber at the second stop and comes second behind Hamilton. In Hungary he had a conservative pace, but due to various problems from his rivals, he finishes third. At Spa he ranks eighth, his worst ranking of the season. After a brilliant race, he managed to run second, but problems with the heating of the hard tires meant that he ended up in fourth position. In Monza he qualifies fourth, but he makes a great start and takes first. In the end he finished third, behind Button and Vettel. In Singapore he ranks fifth. But due to a slow pace in the race and very high tire degradation, Alonso finished fourth. In Suzuka he had a very good race and finished second, less than 1 second behind Jenson Button, but Vettel was proclaimed world champion when he finished third. In Korea, after having problems at the start, he finished in fifth position with a very good pace, and fighting for the podium in the last thirteen laps. In India he drives another good race and finishes third thanks to a failure in Mark Webber's KERS. In Abu Dhabi, after abandoning Sebastian Vettel and passing Webber at the start and Button on the straight, he finished second. In the final round in Brazil, he was on the podium, but once again the Ferrari's difficulty warming up the hard tires meant that Button overtook him and he ended up in fourth position.
2012: runner-up again, bordering on glory
The 2012 season began in Australia, and the worst forecasts were confirmed: Alonso could only be 5th with an uncompetitive F2012 and far from the McLarens and Red Bulls. But in the Malaysian GP, Alonso got his first victory of the season in a Ferrari F2012 inferior to the rest of his rivals. After a close finish, the Spaniard won by just 2.2 seconds over the Mexican Sergio Pérez in a race that suffered a 51-minute interruption due to rain and in which Alonso started from eighth place. in China and in Bahrain where the limitations of the car prevent him from getting on the podium. In the Spanish Grand Prix, after previous improvements to the F2012, Alonso achieved second place behind Pastor Maldonado. Two weeks later, at the Monaco Grand Prix, Alonso climbed to third position on the podium and reached the lead in the drivers' championship. In the Canadian Grand Prix he finished in fifth position after a wrong strategy and a big tire failure, and Lewis Hamilton won, thus placing himself as the world leader. Two more weeks elapsed and the European Grand Prix was held at the Valencia urban circuit, where Alonso was victorious after starting from eleventh position on the grid. That victory, together with the retirements of Sebastian Vettel, Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton, once again gave him the lead in the championship. Later, at the British Grand Prix, the Spanish driver achieved pole position in a Grand Prix gone through water. In the race that was finally held in the dry, Alonso remained the leader until he was overtaken by Mark Webber with 4 laps to go, but the Spaniard achieved a new podium that kept him leading.
In the Hockenheim race (Germany) Alonso manages to start from pole position, achieved in the wet, and achieves a hard-fought victory for Scuderia Ferrari due to his successful strategy. Vettel was penalized to drop to 5th for making an illegal off-track pass on Jenson Button, who finished second. In the last Grand Prix before the summer break, in Hungary, Alonso had a qualifying in which he failed to put his F2012 on a par with the McLaren, Red Bull and even the Lotus, and was awarded 6th position on the grid. Already in the race, thanks to a successful strategy, he managed to finish in 5th position, thus accumulating 164 points and increasing his lead by 40 points with respect to Mark Webber, the second classified, with 124.
At the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix, he started in 5th position on the grid, after Pastor Maldonado was penalized. However, after a start in which he placed 4th, Romain Grosjean plows into Lewis Hamilton, and the two in turn hit and blow up Alonso's car in one of the worst accidents of his career. The Spanish driver was unharmed, although he abandoned the Grand Prix due to that accident.
The following week was the 2012 Italian Grand Prix. After setting the fastest time in both Q1 and Q2, a problem with the rear anti-roll bar on Alonso's car caused him to qualify in tenth place. He managed to finish the race in third place, although he reached second due to Button's retirement and passing his teammate Massa, but lost it to Pérez's Sauber. With this podium, Alonso equaled Ayrton Senna in eighty and placed third in F1 history with the most podiums.
In Abu Dhabi he achieved second place after starting sixth, his eleventh podium of the year, number 31 with Ferrari, it is the season with Ferrari with the most podium finishes since he joined the Italian team. At the Austin track in the United States, Fernando Alonso finished third, thus achieving a podium to dream of a World Cup that would be decided in Brazil. The Spaniard was 13 points behind Vettel, a Vettel who was left without a win in Texas after being overtaken by Lewis Hamilton.
In the last Grand Prix of the season in Brazil, Alonso failed to snatch the World Championship from Vettel by 3 points despite finishing in second place. However, a few days later, a video circulated online showing how Vettel supposedly overtook another competitor illegally, an action that, after being investigated by the FIA, ruled that the overtaking was totally legal since there were green flags on the road. place of overtaking.
2013: runner-up far behind Red Bull
Alonso began the season qualifying fifth in Australia, although by the end of the first lap he had moved up to third. By advancing his pit stop, he was able to overtake Vettel and Massa. Alonso finished in second place until the end of the race.
In Malaysia, Alonso qualified third. Going into turn two he hit the rear of Vettel and damaged his front wing, the team told him to stay out rather than go in and change it, hoping the wing wouldn't break, so Alonso would be able to. to enter the pits to put tires at the appropriate moment. However, going down the main straight at the start of the second lap, the front wing broke and went under his car sending him into the gravel and ending his race.
In China, Alonso once again classified third, at the start he overtook Kimi Räikkönen reaching second place, and five laps later poleman Lewis Hamilton. From then on, he ruled the Grand Prix combining great race pace with tire care, thus obtaining his 31st career victory and the first of the season.
In Bahrain, Fernando starts again from third position ahead of him Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg, as soon as the traffic lights go out he overtakes Vettel, but the German returns the game a few corners later. On lap 8 Alonso's car presented a mechanical problem in the DRS which forced him to enter the pits early as he was losing a lot of time in the twisty section of the circuit. After the stop, Fernando and his team decided to risk reopening the DRS. This one became open again and Alonso had to make a stop again. At the end of the 57 laps Fernando is in eighth position.
The weekend of May 10 to 12, the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix was held, where Alonso was half a second behind the first classified, Nico Rosberg, setting a time of 1:21.218 that earned him a fifth position. Alonso managed to come back in the race and managed to win his second race of the season.
In the Principality of Monaco, Alonso started sixth, although he was passed several times. First he was overtaken by Sergio Pérez. Then he lost another position to Adrian Sutil at Loews turn. Thanks to the collision, Sergio Pérez and Kimi Räikkönen managed to gain two positions, although a piece of the Mexican's wing slipped under his car and caused him to lose aerodynamic points. On that same lap Jenson Button managed to pass him. In this way Fernando finished in seventh place, losing one position with respect to his starting place.
At the Canadian Grand Prix, Alonso started from sixth position due to a bad lap in the wet that he did in qualifying. Making a smooth start, he began to overtake Bottas, Webber, and the two Mercedes drivers, thus leaving him in second position.
His main rivals for the title fight, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen were respectively first (25 points) and ninth (2 points), Alonso rose from third to second position in the overall standings, with Vettel at this point with 132 points, Alonso with 96 and Räikkönen with 88. Vettel had a comfortable lead of 36 points over Alonso. The rest of the season (especially the last nine races, in which Vettel won) were a walk for Vettel, for which Alonso was runner-up again.
2014: last year at Ferrari
In 2014, Formula 1 entered a new era, with the introduction of turbocharged V6 engines. Ferrari and Alonso were confident that this would help them to have a winning car again, after having suffered in recent years, where aerodynamics was the main thing, an aspect in which they were always trailing Red Bull. However, again the team began the season in inferior conditions; this time, from Mercedes, whose powertrains proved to be the best of the three manufacturers. The Anglo-German team and its driver Lewis Hamilton would win the championship with enormous superiority.
On November 20, 2014, Alonso confirms his departure from Ferrari at the end of the season. He finished the season sixth, with two podiums and no wins to his credit, which is his third worst result in a Formula season 1 after 2009 and his inaugural season with Minardi in 2001.
McLaren (2015-2018)
2015: return to McLaren
On December 11, 2014, McLaren-Honda revealed the return of Fernando Alonso to the team and the stay of Jenson Button, leaving Kevin Magnussen as test driver. After a heavy accident in winter testing in Barcelona, the The Spanish driver could not compete in the first GP of the season, held in Australia, due to a medical recommendation. The start of the season was very complicated due to reliability and power problems with the McLaren-Honda and the very young Honda engine.
Alonso is experiencing one of his worst seasons in F1, as he retired in 5 of the first 7 races due to mechanical problems. Finally, Fernando obtained a 10th place in the British Grand Prix signing a great performance in the wet and making use of several events in the race that caused his rivals to lose time. This position was the first point of the season. Later, in Hungary, one of his favorite circuits, he finished 5th in front of both Mercedes in a crazy race, where his teammate Jenson Button also scored points, this being the first time that both McLaren-Hondas have scored points in a Grand Prix in all of the season. Alonso despite the clear "deficits" of power, his Honda engine this season proves to be a champion in form, always showing himself humble and optimistic, although on certain occasions he indirectly publicly pressured Honda to improve its engine. However, both Fernando and Jenson Button starred in some actions with a certain irony towards the situation of the team, such as getting on the podium of the Brazilian Grand Prix after qualifying had finished for them or sunbathing on the circuit after the engine of his McLaren MP4 /30 will fail in the qualifying session.
2016
The season officially begins with the announcement of the dismissal of Yasuhisa Arai, until then Honda's boss for Formula 1. The pre-season tests held at the Montmeló circuit have turned out to be encouraging for the Anglo-Japanese team, the reliability problems have already been solved and they clearly surpass Manor, Sauber and Haas and they are superior to Renault and close to Red Bull and Williams. which places the team in the middle of the grid, as the seventh team out of eleven with great chances of overtaking more teams, something very positive considering that in the 2015 season they could only beat Manor and be on par with Sauber.
In the first race of the year (Australian Grand Prix) the performance of the MP4/31 is above the previous year and better than expected, Fernando managing to place himself in the top 10 in the first two free practice sessions of the season signing a good start. However, Alonso is aware that neither in qualifying nor in the race can they be so high up, which is confirmed in qualifying, where Alonso can only be twelfth. In the race Alonso signs a great start, making a great race and always being or close to the points, but on lap 18, after an erroneous maneuver trying to overtake Esteban Gutiérrez, he touches the left rear wheel of the Mexican's Haas, he loses control of the car and hits the wall at more than 300 km/h and suffers one of the worst accidents of his sports career. The images of the accident are shocking, with Alonso's car destroyed upside down (remaining chassis and cockpit) but, paradoxically, the driver manages to get out of the car on his own foot. Due to this accident, and his injuries, the doctors did not they let run in the second race of the year, the Bahrain Grand Prix. After replacing him with the young Stoffel Vandoorne in Bahrain, Alonso returns to the Chinese Grand Prix, where he confirms that the MP4 / 31 is a mid-table car, qualifying 12th. In the race he is not able to advance from his starting position, and finishes 12th. Two weeks later, at the Russian Grand Prix, despite not being able to enter Q3, he made a great start and, maintaining a great pace, achieved 6th place, although far from the top teams. The arrival in Europe is good for Fernando, who in Spain has a good performance entering Q3, but in the race he is forced to retire due to an engine failure. In Monaco, a good result was expected as the MP4/31's chassis masked the deficiencies of the Honda engine. He manages to enter Q3 again (10th) and the next day, the Circuit de Monaco dawns in the rain. Alonso makes a real run, such as great drivers, achieving 5th place after enduring a good part of the race against Nico Rosberg with the superior Mercedes, and Nico Hülkenberg. Although he could benefit from one or two retirements, his pace and his driving in the rain and his resistance to Rosberg with an inferior car, Alonso showed his qualities as a driver.
In Canada, Honda introduced an engine upgrade, making it four consecutive races in Q3; In the race, despite Honda's improvement, the deficiencies in his engine at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (motor circuit) surfaced and he achieved 11th place. The start of the European tour is not good for Alonso; two races in a row with motor circuits (Azerbaijan and Austria) are not good for Alonso's car, and in fact he has to retire in both. In Great Britain, home of McLaren, Fernando manages to get into Q3, but in the race he was left out of the points again, chaining four races without scoring. In Hungary, the good chassis of the MP4/31 and a slightly crazy classification, let Alonso classify 7th (best classification) and his teammate Button 8th. In the race he knew how to maintain his position and got a 7th place. Before the end of the European tour, Alonso managed to score points in Belgium, where Honda introduced a major upgrade to his engine, helping Alonso achieve another 7th place. In Germany and Italy, he did not have such good luck, although in Italy he did set the fastest lap, stopping in the last few laps, forcing his car and showing his maximum performance. In Singapore and Malaysia, after almost confirming being the 4th team on the grid, Alonso achieved another two 7th places. In Japan, home of Honda, where everyone believed Alonso and McLaren between 5th and 7th place, they were disappointed; an inexplicably poor performance and a difficult race left him with just 16th place. In America, the car's performance was similar to that of Singapore and Malaysia, and after a flawless and impressive finish to the race, he achieved a season-best 5th place of the 2016 season with McLaren-Honda. In a few laps he closed a gap of 5 seconds with Sainz and Massa, and in a super aggressive maneuver and on the verge of legality he overtook the Brazilian. A few laps later, Alonso overtook Sainz and achieved the aforementioned 5th place.
2017: Last year with Honda and Indy 500
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In 2017 he will continue to drive for McLaren and as a teammate he will have Stoffel Vandoorne. Due to the poor performance of the Formula 1 car. The bad pre-season carried out by the McLaren team, weighed down due to deficiencies in the engine design, have caused Fernando to have to abandon the first four races of the world championship.
Fernando Alonso did not compete in the Monaco Grand Prix on May 28 and was replaced by Jenson Button. However, he did compete on the same day in the Indianapolis 500. In the first Indy practice on May 15, Alonso finished first, and on the 18th he obtained the fourth fastest time. On the 27th he finished fifth in Carb Day, that is, in the last training session before the Indianapolis race. Finally on the 28th he competed in the Indianapolis 500. He led the race for several laps and his pace was good. However, with 21 laps to go, when Alonso was in seventh position, he blew the engine of his McLaren Honda Andretti Autosport and was forced to stop the race.
Before starting the rest period, Alonso announces that in September he will talk about his future at McLaren Honda. He has already stated on several occasions that next year he intends to win races and this practically ensures his departure from the Honda-powered team. Although later, he surprised us all. Thanks to all his complaints about the malfunctioning of the Honda engine, McLaren decided to break with Honda and go with a brand well known to Alonso, Renault. McLaren went to pass motorized by Renault in 2018 and that made Fernando change his decision. For 36,000,000 euros at the end of the season, Fernando decided to stay with McLaren for another year to see if, with the new engine, he could progress and win the third world championship that he so desires. Before the end of the 2017 Formula 1 season, on November 19, 2017, Fernando Alonso did the "rookies" for the Toyota TS050 Hybrid, of the 24 hours of Le Mans. He was at the Sakhir Circuit, in Bahrain, where he did 113 laps, being the driver who did the most laps. He had the fifth best mark per lap.
2018: first year for McLaren-Renault and WEC
The first races of the 2018 Formula 1 season have marked a step forward in terms of performance for the McLaren. Thanks to the Renault engine, this has enabled both him and his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne. In Melbourne, he knew how to hold his own against a Max Verstappen who had been unleashed and other drivers to finish in fifth position, thus adding the first 10 points.
In the following races, and thanks to the sum of factors in the races, Alonso accumulates three seventh consecutive positions in Bahrain, China and Azerbaijan. In the latter, on the first lap he paralleled Sergey Sirotkin and ended up being hit by the Russian's Williams, puncturing both right wheels. Fernando Alonso drove to the box with the car in poor condition and then came back from 17th position.
At the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, after a disqualification of the #7 Toyota on qualifying Friday, the #8 car in which Alonso, along with his teammates Buemi and Nakajima, prepared to start from the first position for the Belgian contest. The number 8 reached the checkered flag and thus won the first race for Toyota this season. In his case, it was his first victory in this championship, his first victory in any event since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix and his first podium finish since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix. which leads them to be outstanding leaders of the World Resistance.
In F1, in the Spanish GP he qualified and finished in eighth position, adding his fifth consecutive race in points, something he hadn't achieved since his days at Ferrari.
In mid-August 2018, Alonso announced his retirement from Formula 1 via Twitter, the season of that year being the last in which he participated.
On September 6, 2018, he attended Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, to test an Andretti Autosport IndyCar on a mixed track.
Just after the Formula 1 season ended in Abu Dhabi, he carried out a car swap at the Sakhir circuit in neighboring Bahrain with NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson, raising rumors of a future Oviedo's participation in the next edition of the Daytona 500 or the full NASCAR calendar in the future, although Fernando himself would rule out this option, focusing in 2019 on winning the World Endurance Championship and the Indianapolis 500.
After Formula 1
2019: 24 Hours of Daytona, WEC champion and rally raid debut
After retiring from Formula 1 in 2018, Fernando Alonso continued to compete in motorsports, with the intention of taking part in "iconic races". On January 26 and 27, Fernando Alonso won the Daytona 24 Hours with the team Konica Minolta Cadillac, in his second participation in this competition. This victory earns him a new record, he becomes the first and only driver to have won the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona. He also became the first F1 world champion to win the 24 Hours of Daytona (Phil Hill won in 1964 but in 2000 km format and Mario Andretti in 1972 in 6 format hours, this last edition reduced hours due to the 1973 oil crisis) and only the sixth driver to win at least one Formula 1 Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The 2018-19 WEC season continued in 2019, Fernando Alonso won the 1000 Miles of Sebring on March 15, setting the record for the fastest lap at the mythical American circuit (it hosted, in 1952, the first race of resistance disputed in the United States) in the classification disputed the day before, and the 6 Hours of Spa on May 4. On May 1, he announced that he would not continue in the WEC for the 2019-20 season, so the 24 Hours Le Mans 2019 would be his last race in this championship.
In March 2019, and taking advantage of his relationship with Toyota Gazoo Racing that began in the WEC, Alonso traveled to South Africa, to the Bokhara area, to test the Toyota Hilux with the experienced raid driver and winner of the Dakar 2009, the local Giniel de Villiers. The tests lasted two days.
In the Indianapolis 500, he failed to qualify to run the race.
On June 5, 2019, through some responses to his followers on the social network Instagram, he revealed part of his future for the second half of 2019 saying that "he will run 8 more races this year". A few days later, in an interview for Diario AS prior to the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, he gave more clues about his future for the rest of 2019 and 2020.
On June 16, 2019, he repeated his victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, together with his teammates Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, also achieving the title of world endurance champion and several records. After winning this championship, he became the first driver in history to win the Formula 1 World Championship and the World Endurance Championship. Likewise, he became the second rookie driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2 consecutive times after the British Woolf Barnato achieved it in 1929. He is one of the three drivers with full victories in all his participations in this test having participated more than once (the other two are Woolf Barnato himself and Jean-Pierre Wimille). He also became the second driver in history to have won FIA world titles in different championships after Norwegian Petter Solberg.
At the end of August, Alonso traveled to Namibia, where on August 20 he began the 2nd test with the Toyota Hilux, completing almost 1000 km of test. Rumors that he will compete in the 2020 Dakar Rally are skyrocketing, as well as that his co-driver will be the 5-time winner of the Dakar Rally on a motorcycle, the Spanish Marc Coma. A few days later, at the beginning of September, Alonso travels to Poland, to carry out a 700 km test where a few days before the Baja to Poland had been held, belonging to the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas.
In September, after his test in Poland, the rumors are confirmed that Marc Coma will be Alonso's co-driver in the Spanish driver's debut in the raids, but his participation in the race remains unconfirmed. Dakar 2020. At the same time, the participation of Alonso and Coma in the Lichtenburg 400, the fifth round of the South African Cross Country Series (SACCS), was confirmed, which marks the competition debut of the Asturian rider in Rally Raids, although they will do it in a non-competitive way running as car 0.
On September 13, 2019, Alonso and Coma participate in the first stage of the Lichtenburg 400 with the number 331 despite the fact that they were not initially going to participate competitively, they finally signed up. The first stage was a short stage of 55 km, where Alonso and Coma finished in third position. They completed the course in 37 minutes and 24 seconds, falling 5.5 seconds behind second-placed Giniel de Villiers, and 32 seconds behind the winner, Henk Lategan. The second day of competition consisted of two special stages, one in the morning and one in the evening. late. Both specials were made on the same route of 187 km. In the first pass, they had a rollover in which they lost 8 minutes. Later they should stop to remove the windshield, finishing the stage with motocross goggles to have visibility. Thus they completed the first pass with a time of 2 hours 19 minutes and 54 seconds, losing more than 25 minutes with De Villiers. On the second pass, they punctured a tire and hit a guinea fowl; Even so, they improved their times, with a time of 1 hour 57 minutes and 56 seconds, losing about 7 minutes with the winner of this 3rd special. Overall, they finished in 16th position, with a time total of 4 hours 55 minutes and 14 seconds, more than half an hour behind the winner, Giniel de Villiers, who completed the test in 4 hours 23 minutes and 20 seconds. As soon as he finished, Alonso flew to Doha where he did an test with Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah with SxS buggies.
From October 5 to 9, 2019, he participates in the Morocco Rally raid belonging to the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup with the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, presumably in preparation for his participation in the Dakar Rally of 2020. In the first 2 stages, it suffers several punctures and setbacks, as well as visibility problems due to the dust produced by other participants, losing 45 and 31 minutes, respectively, compared to the winner of these two stages, Al-Attiyah. In stage 3 he breaks the suspension and retires, after a failure in the road book that also affected other participants such as Bernhard ten Brinke. After 8 hours of repair and a 70-hour penalty for re-engaging, he continues his participation in the Rally.In the last 2 stages he manages to get into the Top-10, finishing the Rally in 21st position.
On October 24, 2019, within the framework of the Catalunya Rally, its participation in the next edition of the Dakar Rally is confirmed, the first time it will be held in Saudi Arabia. Take advantage of your stay there to carry out a 500 km test through the provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona.
The month of November brought another event for the 2020 Dakar Rally, the Ula-Neom Rally belonging to the Saudi Desert Rally Championship, held in Saudi Arabia on the same terrain as the Dakar in the month of January. The relevance of this participation in the Ula-Neom Rally is given by the prohibition of carrying out any test in the same country where the Dakar is held, although it is allowed to participate in an official competition. In the first stage, of 211 km of timed special, Alonso and his co-driver, the Spanish Marc Coma, finished in 4th position, 7 minutes and 43 seconds behind the Saudi Yasir Bin Seaidan, leader of the championship. In the second stage, also 211 km against the clock, they repeat 4th position, losing 7 minutes and 35 seconds compared to the winner of the day, the Saudi Arabian Yazeed Al-Rajhi. In the third stage, of 231 km against the clock, they achieved the 3rd position, losing 1 minute and 55 seconds with respect to Yazeed Al-Rajhi and only 17 seconds with respect to the first classified in the general classification, Yasir Bin Seaidan. In the fourth and final stage, of 175 km against the stopwatch, they repeat 3rd position, losing 5 minutes and 35 seconds with the winner of the day, Al-Rajhi who ended up prevailing in the general classification ahead of Bin Seaidan and in 3rd position Alonso and Coma are positioned, benefiting from a penalty and subsequent abandonment of the Emirati Khalid Al Qassimi at the end of the stage 3. This marks Alonso's first podium finish in a rally raid competition.
On Monday, November 11, he tests a competition Toyota Corolla STC2000 in a promotional event at the Oscar and Juan Gálvez Autodrome, the car with which Toyota participates in the Argentine Super TC 2000 touring car championship. According to those present, he scored very good times and left good feelings.
The last test of preparation for the Dakar Rally was carried out in Abu Dhabi, for three days (December 8, 9 and 10) where they completed more than 600 km. The following The occasion in which the Spaniard gets into the car will be to start the rally.
2020: Dakar Rally and the Indianapolis 500
With his participation in the 2020 Dakar Rally, Fernando Alonso joins a list of Formula 1 drivers who also tried the Dakar rally (only two were able to win: the Belgian Jacky Ickx who was runner-up in the world Formula 1, participated 14 times in the Dakar Rally and won in 1983 and the Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser who participated in a Formula 1 Grand Prix, won in 1999 and 2000). Also, Fernando becomes the first Formula 1 world champion to run the Dakar Rally, he finished in 13th position.
In February of this year, Alonso's participation in the Indianapolis 500 with the Arrow McLaren SP team was confirmed for the third time.
The coronavirus disease pandemic forced the delay of the 104th edition of the Indianapolis 500 to August 23. Fernando could only qualify in position 26 and managed to finish the race for the first time in his life, after an engine failure in his first participation and failure to qualify in his second attempt, although he was lapped and finished in position 21 in the victory from the Japanese Takuma Satō.
Return to Formula 1
Alpine (2021-2022)
In July 2020, his return to the "top flight" with Renault (later Alpine F1 Team) was announced, replacing Daniel Ricciardo for the 2021 season. During the course of the year, Alonso drove the Renault R.S. 20 on the Barcelona-Catalonia circuit. Due to limited testing, Renault opted to use his second filming-day, which allows 100km of running the current car on promotional Pirelli tyres. In November, the Spaniard contested 2 days of testing. He completed 93 laps each day at the Bahrain International Circuit in the 2018 Renault R.S.18. He returned to drive the R.S.18 again during a 2-day test at Yas Marina, completing 190 laps. Leading up to the Abu Grand Prix Dabi, Alonso turned five laps in the Renault R25, the single-seater with which he won his first title. Two days later, prior to his return to Formula 1, he participated in postseason training, where he achieved the best time of the session..
On February 11, 2021, Alonso was hit by a car while cycling near Lugano. He was hospitalized with a broken jaw and some broken teeth, although without serious injuries.After performing dental surgery, which Alonso was successful, he continued his preparation for the 2021 season preseason.
The Alpine F1 Team indicated that due to a medical recommendation and to continue with his recovery, Alonso would not be able to travel to the United Kingdom to present the car on March 3, making it the first time that Alonso will be seen publicly at a official event will be in the Bahrain tests.
Already recovered from his accident, Alonso began his return to Formula 1 in pre-season tests. Like drivers joining a new team in the 2021 Formula 1 season, Alonso was plagued by a lack of pace not only with his new A521, but also from spending two years out of the sport. In addition, the Alpine team itself admitted not having made major changes to the car compared to the previous year, focusing on the 2022 season due to the regulation change that will occur in that year. Even so, in the first race in Bahrain, Alonso managed to get through to Q3 and pass his teammate. However, already in the race, despite good strategy from his team and getting a good pace, Alonso was forced to retire due to a sandwich wrapper that got stuck in his brake ducts, causing them to overheat and could not finish the race. After this race, Formula 1 for the second consecutive year visited Imola, at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari Autodromo for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Alonso was surpassed in qualifying and in the race by his teammate Esteban Ocon. Still, thanks to penalties received by Lance Stroll and Kimi Räikkönen, Alonso picked up his first point on his return to the top flight. Once this GP was over, many doubts were sown about Fernando's fitness and his level was questioned. Formula 1 arrived in Portimão for the 3.a race and face the Portuguese Grand Prix. Alpine F1 Team showed an improvement in free practice that resulted in good times for both Alonso and his teammate Esteban Ocon. Qualifying came on Saturday and Alonso could not get past Q2, starting in 13th position for Sunday, while Ocon did so in 6th position, once again casting doubt on Fernando's performance. However, in the race on Sunday, Alonso had a very good race, extending his first stint a lot on the medium tire, which made him climb many places. In this way, when Alonso made his stop and with a new hard tire and rolling at a great pace, he managed to overtake Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo and his compatriot Carlos Sainz Jr. on the track. Alonso got some very good laps and he lacked others to overtaking his teammate who finished in position 7, while Alonso was eighth.
On August 1, 2022, the Aston Martin team announced in an official statement the signing of Alonso for the 2023 season, replacing four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.
Controversies
- At the 2006 Hungary Grand Prix, during a quick turn in the trainings, you will find Robert Doornbos, who will waste some time. Alonso, furious, overcomes him in the main line and encloses him turning to the right, forcing Doornbos to turn to avoid colliding with him. Immediately after, in the first curve, Alonso frys excessively, slowing his R26 unexpectedly to get rid of Doornbos. The commissars considered the maneuvers of the Asturian as "unnecessary, unacceptable and dangerous" and was sanctioned with the addition of one second to each of their classification times.
- In the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, he was sanctioned for "intentionally blocking Felipe Massa's car on his quick return." The Asturian, who considered that he had never hindered the Brazilian at any time, declared that "the Formula 1 no longer considered a sport." On the day of the race, he made an advance to Nick Heidfeld on the 2nd round of the first Chicana, but the Federation did not investigate the incident.
- In the 2007 Hungary Grand Prix classification, when both McLaren entered the pits, Alonso was arrested a few seconds longer, causing Lewis Hamilton to waste time, preventing him from taking a new turn. According to the paper-sharing policy in the classification of the McLaren team, in that race it was up to the Asturian to take a sorting round more than Lewis Hamilton, who did not accept that pact. Alonso was delayed with 5 positions in the grill for this incident.
- After the 2007 Hungary Grand Prix, Ron Dennis said he had a discussion with Alonso and that the ovetense threatened him to make public the existence of evidence in the case of espionage to Ferrari. Dennis declared that he had called the FIA and informed them of the existence of the new evidence. However, Alonso stated that Dennis's version was false, and that it was he who spoke to the FIA of the existence of the evidence.
- In 2007, Alonso learned that McLaren had secret information from Ferrari, but did not report it. However, when the FIA asked Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa to send any information regarding the case of espionage, under the penalty that, if they found information involving them, they would be removed from the superlicence, the Spaniards sent copies of emails in which they commented on different aspects such as the weight distribution of the Ferraris, brake system, tires, monopolation fund, etc. These emails were prior to the date on which the Scuderia Ferrari engineer delivered the confidential dossier to his McLaren counterpart.
- The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was won by Fernando Alonso, after leaving last after refueling, his then-partner Nelson Piquet crashed into the security car, placing Alonso in first position. Following the 2009 Belgium Grand Prix, once dismissed Nelson Piquet (who had a bad relationship with Flavio Briatore), it was confirmed that the accident of the Brazilian pilot at the Singapore Grand Prix responded to a possible strategy of the team so that the Spanish pilot would win. The FIA accepted the hypothesis that neither Fernando Alonso nor his engineers were aware of such a strategy. This episode was called "Crashgate", and is considered one of the biggest scandals in Formula 1 history.
- At the 2009 Hungary Grand Prix, the right front wheel of Alonso's car was badly placed after his first pit-stop. When he rolled through the circuit, the wheel went off and jumped through the air. Alonso had to return to the pits, but decided to leave for the damage that caused him to roll without the wheel and for problems in the fuel pump. The FIA decided to sanction the Renault team for "intentionally attacking the safety of drivers and the public" by depriving them of running at the European Grand Prix, although on 17 August, the FIA met with the Renault team and the penalty was transformed into a fine of $50 000 (about 36 000 euros).
- 2010 European Grand Prix: Alonso publicly accused FIA of manipulating the race. Days later, he apologized for his accusation and assured it was an "emotional reaction".
- In the 2010 German Grand Prix, the race was led by Felipe Massa, but Alonso's rhythm was faster than that of the Brazilian and he stayed in line, while Massa defended the position. Alonso communicates to his team on the radio «Guys, this is ridiculous» (“this is ridiculous”). Then Massa Rob Smedley’s engineer told Felipe “Fernando is faster than you, can you confirm you understood that message?» (“Fernando is faster than you, can you confirm that you have understood the message?”). Shortly afterwards, on round 48, Massa reduces and allows Alonso to move forward in a deliberate act, showing the order of equipment. In 2010, the team orders were banned, therefore Ferrari was sanctioned with USD 100 000, but the controversy of the action gave it to speak until the end of the season, since the points obtained by the victory were filled in the fight for the championship and in the English press qualified this victory as a “dirty victory”, as in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. However, the championship would later be held by Sebastian Vettel.
Balance with teammates in Formula 1
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Career Summary
| Season | Category | Equipment | Careers | Victorias | Poles | VR | Podium | Points | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Euro Open by Nissan | Campos Motorsport | 15 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 164 | 1.o |
| 2000 | Formula 3000 International | Team Astromega | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 4.o |
| 2001 | Formula 1 | European Minardi F1 Team | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23. |
| 2002 | Formula 1 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | Test pilot | ||||||
| 2003 | Formula 1 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 55 | 6.o | |
| 2004 | Formula 1 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 59 | 4.o | |
| 2005 | Formula 1 | 19 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 133 | 1.o | |
| 2006 | Formula 1 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 134 | 1.o | |
| 2007 | Formula 1 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 17 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 109 | 3.o |
| 2008 | Formula 1 | ING Renault F1 Team | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 61 | 5.o |
| 2009 | Formula 1 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 9. | |
| 2010 | Formula 1 | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro | 19 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 252 | 2. |
| 2011 | Formula 1 | Scuderia Ferrari | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 257 | 4.o |
| 2012 | Formula 1 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 278 | 2. | |
| 2013 | Formula 1 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 242 | 2. | |
| 2014 | Formula 1 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 161 | 6.o | |
| 2015 | Formula 1 | McLaren Honda | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 17. |
| 2016 | Formula 1 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 54 | 10. | |
| 2017 | Formula 1 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 15. | |
| IndyCar Series | McLaren-Honda-Andretti | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 29.o | |
| 500 Miles from Indianapolis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 24. | ||
| 2018 | Formula 1 | McLaren F1 Team | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 11. |
| WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - P | United Autosports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 58.o | |
| 24 Hours of Daytona - P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 13. | ||
| 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP1 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 1.o | |
| 2018-19 | FIA World Resistance Championship - LMP1 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 198 | 1.o | |
| 2019 | 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 1.o | |
| WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - DPi | Konica Minolta Cadillac | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 27. | |
| 24 Hours of Daytona - DPi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | N/A | 1.o | ||
| IndyCar Series | McLaren Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |
| 500 Miles from Indianapolis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | |||
| Formula 1 | McLaren F1 Team | Test pilot | |||||||
| 2020 | Rally Dakar | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 13. |
| IndyCar Series | Ruoff Mortgage Arrow McLaren SP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 31.o | |
| 500 Miles from Indianapolis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 21. | ||
| Formula 1 | Renault DP World F1 Team | Test pilot | |||||||
| 2021 | Formula 1 | Alpine F1 Team | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 81 | 10. |
| 2022 | Formula 1 | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 81 | 9. |
| Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team | Test pilot | ||||||||
| 2023 | Formula 1 | Disputing | |||||||
| Source: | |||||||||
Results
Euro Open by Nissan
(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)
| Year | Equipment | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Campos Motorsport | ALB1 Ret | ALB2 1 | JER1 Ret | JER2 DNS | JAR1 Ret | JAR2 1 | MNZ1 Ret | MNZ2 Ret | JAR1 2 | JAR2 Ret | DON1 1 | DON2 1 | BAR1 7 | BAR2 1 | VAL1 2 | VAL2 1 | 1.o | 164 |
International Formula 3000
(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)
| Year | Equipment | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Team Astromega | IMO 9 | SIL EX | CAT 15 | NÜR Ret | MON 8 | MAG Ret | A1R 6 | HOC Ret | HUN 2 | SPA 1 | 4.o | 17 |
Formula 1
(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)
| Year | Scuderia | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | European Minardi F1 Team | AUS 12 | MYS 13 | BRA Ret | SMR Ret | ESP 13 | AUT Ret | MON Ret | CAN Ret | EUR 14 | FRA 17† | GBR 16 | GER 10 | HUN Ret | BEL Ret | ITA 13 | USA Ret | JPN 11 | 23. | 0 | ||||||
| 2003 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | AUS 7 | MYS 3 | BRA 3 | SMR 6 | ESP 2 | AUT Ret | MON 5 | CAN 4 | EUR 4 | FRA Ret | GBR Ret | GER 4 | HUN 1 | ITA 8 | USA Ret | JPN Ret | 6.o | 55 | |||||||
| 2004 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | AUS 3 | MYS 7 | BHR 6 | SMR 4 | ESP 4 | MON Ret | EUR 5 | CAN Ret | USA Ret | FRA 2 | GBR 10 | GER 3 | HUN 3 | BEL Ret | ITA Ret | CHN 4 | JPN 5 | BRA 4 | 4.o | 59 | |||||
| 2005 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | AUS 3 | MYS 1 | BHR 1 | SMR 1 | ESP 2 | MON 4 | EUR 1 | CAN Ret | USA DNS | FRA 1 | GBR 2 | GER 1 | HUN 11 | TUR 2 | ITA 2 | BEL 2 | BRA 3 | JPN 3 | CHN 1 | 1.o | 133 | ||||
| 2006 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | BHR 1 | MYS 2 | AUS 1 | SMR 2 | EUR 2 | ESP 1 | MON 1 | GBR 1 | CAN 1 | USA 5 | FRA 2 | GER 5 | HUN Ret | TUR 2 | ITA Ret | CHN 2 | JPN 1 | BRA 2 | 1.o | 134 | |||||
| 2007 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | AUS 2 | MYS 1 | BHR 5 | ESP 3 | MON 1 | CAN 7 | USA 2 | FRA 7 | GBR 2 | EUR 1 | HUN 4 | TUR 3 | ITA 1 | BEL 3 | JPN Ret | CHN 2 | BRA 3 | 3.o | 109 | ||||||
| 2008 | ING Renault F1 Team | AUS 4 | MYS 8 | BHR 10 | ESP Ret | TUR 6 | MON 10 | CAN Ret | FRA 8 | GBR 6 | GER 11 | HUN 4 | EUR Ret | BEL 4 | ITA 4 | SIN 1 | JPN 1 | CHN 4 | BRA 2 | 5.o | 61 | |||||
| 2009 | ING Renault F1 Team | AUS 5 | MYS 11 | CHN 9 | BHR 8 | ESP 5 | MON 7 | TUR 10 | GBR 14 | GER 7 | HUN Ret | EUR 6 | BEL Ret | ITA 5 | 9. | 26 | ||||||||||
| Renault F1 Team | SIN 3 | JPN 10 | BRA Ret | ABU 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro | BHR 1 | AUS 4 | MYS 13† | CHN 4 | ESP 2 | MON 6 | TUR 8 | CAN 3 | EUR 8 | GBR 14 | GER 1 | HUN 2 | BEL Ret | ITA 1 | SIN 1 | JPN 3 | RCO 1 | BRA 3 | ABU 7 | 2. | 252 | ||||
| 2011 | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro | AUS 4 | MYS 6 | CHN 7 | TUR 3 | ESP 5 | MON 2 | CAN Ret | EUR 2 | 4.o | 257 | |||||||||||||||
| Scuderia Ferrari | GBR 1 | GER 2 | HUN 3 | BEL 4 | ITA 3 | SIN 4 | JPN 2 | RCO 5 | IND 3 | ABU 2 | BRA 4 | |||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Scuderia Ferrari | AUS 5 | MYS 1 | CHN 9 | BHR 7 | ESP 2 | MON 3 | CAN 5 | EUR 1 | GBR 2 | GER 1 | HUN 5 | BEL Ret | ITA 3 | SIN 3 | JPN Ret | RCO 3 | IND 2 | ABU 2 | USA 3 | BRA 2 | 2. | 278 | |||
| 2013 | Scuderia Ferrari | AUS 2 | MYS Ret | CHN 1 | BHR 8 | ESP 1 | MON 7 | CAN 2 | GBR 3 | GER 4 | HUN 5 | BEL 2 | ITA 2 | SIN 2 | RCO 6 | JPN 4 | IND 11 | ABU 5 | USA 5 | BRA 3 | 2. | 242 | ||||
| 2014 | Scuderia Ferrari | AUS 4 | MYS 4 | BHR 9 | CHN 3 | ESP 6 | MON 4 | CAN 6 | AUT 5 | GBR 6 | GER 5 | HUN 2 | BEL 7 | ITA Ret | SIN 4 | JPN Ret | RUS 6 | USA 6 | BRA 6 | ABU 9 | 6.o | 161 | ||||
| 2015 | McLaren Honda | AUS | MYS Ret | CHN 12 | BHR 11 | ESP Ret | MON Ret | CAN Ret | AUT Ret | GBR 10 | HUN 5 | BEL 13 | ITA 18† | SIN Ret | JPN 11 | RUS 11 | USA 11 | MEX Ret | BRA 15 | ABU 17 | 17. | 11 | ||||
| 2016 | McLaren Honda | AUS Ret | BHR | CHN 12 | RUS 6 | ESP Ret | MON 5 | CAN 11 | EUR Ret | AUT Ret | GBR 13 | HUN 7 | GER 12 | BEL 7 | ITA 14 | SIN 7 | MYS 7 | JPN 16 | USA 5 | MEX 13 | BRA 10 | ABU 10 | 10. | 54 | ||
| 2017 | McLaren Honda | AUS Ret | CHN Ret | BHR 14 | RUS DNS | ESP 12 | MON | CAN 16† | AZE 9 | AUT Ret | GBR Ret | HUN 6 | BEL Ret | ITA 17† | SIN Ret | MYS 11 | JPN 11 | USA Ret | MEX 10 | BRA 8 | ABU 9 | 15. | 17 | |||
| 2018 | McLaren F1 Team | AUS 5 | BHR 7 | CHN 7 | AZE 7 | ESP 8 | MON Ret | CAN Ret | FRA 16† | AUT 8 | GBR 8 | GER 16† | HUN 8 | BEL Ret | ITA Ret | SIN 7 | RUS 14 | JPN 14 | USA Ret | MEX Ret | BRA 17 | ABU 11 | 11. | 50 | ||
| 2021 | Alpine F1 Team | BHR Ret | EMI 10 | BY 8 | ESP 17 | MON 13 | AZE 6 | FRA 8 | EST 9 | AUT 10 | GBR 7 | HUN 4 | BEL 11 | NED 6 | ITA 8 | RUS 6 | TUR 16 | USA Ret | MEX 9 | Yes 9 | QAT 3 | ARA 13 | ABU 8 | 10. | 81 | |
| 2022 | BWT Alpine F1 Team | BHR 9 | ARA Ret | AUS 17 | EMI Ret | MIA 11 | ESP 9 | MON 7 | AZE 7 | CAN 9 | GBR 5 | AUT 10 | FRA 6 | HUN 8 | BEL 5 | NED 6 | ITA Ret | SIN Ret | JPN 7 | USA 7 | MEX 19† | Yes 5 | ABU Ret | 9. | 81 | |
| 2023* | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team | BHR 3 | ARA 3 | AUS | AZE | MIA | EMI | MON | ESP | CAN | AUT | GBR | HUN | BEL | NED | ITA | SIN | JPN | QAT | USA | MEX | Yes | LVG | ABU | 3.o | 30 |
| Source: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- ♪ Season in progress.
IndyCar Series
(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)
| Year | Equipment | Motor | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | McLaren-Honda-Andretti | Honda | STP | LBH | ALA | PHX | IMS | INDY 24 | DET | DET | TEX | ROA | IOW | TOR | MDO | POC | GAT | WGL | SNM | 29.o | 47 |
| 2019 | McLaren Racing | Chevrolet | STP | COA | ALA | LBH | IMS | INDY DNQ | DET | DET | TEX | ROA | TOR | IOW | MDO | POC | GAT | BY | LAG | NC | 0 |
| 2020 | Ruoff Mortgage Arrow McLaren SP | TEX | IMS | ROA | ROA | IOW | IOW | INDY 21 | GTW1 | GTW2 | MDO | MDO | IMS | IMS | STP | 31.o | 18 | ||||
| Source: | |||||||||||||||||||||
Indianapolis 500
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)
| Year | Equipment | Class | Chasis | Motor | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | United Autosports | P | Ligier JS P217 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 13 | SEB | LBH | MOH | BEL | WGL | MOS | ELK | LGA | ATL | 58.o | 18 |
| 2019 | Konica Minolta Cadillac | DPi | Cadillac DPi-V.R | Cadillac 5.5 L V8 | DAY 1 | SEB | LBH | MOH | BEL | WGL | MOS | ELK | LGA | ATL | 27. | 35 |
24 Hours of Daytona
| Year | Equipment | Copilots | Automobile | Class | Returns | Pos. | Pos. Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 |  United Autosports
| .svg){kind=small} Philip Hanson Lando Norris
| Ligier JS P217-Gibson | P | 718 | 38. | 13. |
| 2019 | Konica Minolta Cadillac
|  Kamui Kobayashi Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande
| Cadillac DPi-V.R-Cadillac | DPi | 593 | 1.o | |
| Source: | |||||||
FIA World Endurance Championship
(Key) (bold indicates pole position) (italics indicates fastest lap)
| Year | Scuderia | Class | Automobile | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Points | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | LMP1 | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | SPA | LMS | SIL | FUJ | SHA | SEB | SPA | LMS | 1.o | 198 | |
| 1 | 1 | DSQ | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
24 Hours of Le Mans
| Year | Equipment | Copilots | Automobile | Class | Returns | Pos. | Pos. Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|  Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima
| Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 388 | 1.o | |
| 2019 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
| Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima
| Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 385 | 1.o | |
Dakar Rally
| Year | Equipment | Copilot | Automobile | Class | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|  Marc Coma
| Toyota Hilux | Cars | 13. |
| Dakar Rally 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N.o | Phase | Special (km) | Link (km) | Classes. Partial | Time (difference) | Classes. General | Time (difference) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Jeddah - Al Wajh | 319 | 433 | 11. | 03:34:31 (+00:15:27) | 11. | 03:34:31 (+00:15:27) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Al Wajh - Neom | 367 | 26 | 63.o | 06:11:58 (+02:34:38) | 47. | 09:46:29 (+02:38:53) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Neom - Neom | 427 | 77 | 4.o | 03:54:15 (+00:06:14) | 32.o | 13:40:44 (+02:40:24) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Neom - Al-Ula | 453 | 219 | 13. | 04:30:55 (+00:26:21) | 20. | 18:11:39 (+02:59:27) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Al-Ula - Hail | 353 | 211 | 7. | 04:04:24 (+00:12:23) | 18. | 22:16:03 (+03:11:50) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Hail - Riad | 477 | 353 | 6.o | 04:35:13 (+00:07:56) | 16. | 26:51:16 (+03:18:13) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Rest (Riad) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Riad - Wadi Al-Dawasir | 546 | 195 | 6.o | 04:24:00 (+00:07:49) | 15. | 31:15 (+03:26:02) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Wadi Al-Dawasir - Wadi Al-Dawasir | 477 | 239 | 2. | 03:52:27 (+00:04:04) | 13. | 35:07:43 (+03:10:51) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Wadi Al-Dawasir - Haradh | 410 | 476 | 9. | 03:21:34 (+00:13:03) | 10. | 38:29:17 (+03:17:23) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Haradh - Shubaytah | 534 (223) | 74 | 56.o | 03:21:16 (+01:17:33) | 14.o | 41:50:33 (+04:34:56) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Shubaytah - Haradh | 379 | 365 | 8. | 04:30:36 (+00:16:25) | 13. | 46:21:09 (+04:43:18) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Haradh - Qiddiya | 374 (167) | 73 (262) | 4.o | 01:20:55 (+00:03:25) | 13. | 47:42:04 (+04:42:47) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| - | Qiddiya (Grand Prix de Qiddiya) Qiddiya Trophy) | 20 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alonsomania
In Spain the fan phenomenon generated around the figure of Fernando Alonso is popularly known as Alonsomanía. The appearance of the Asturian driver on the circuits has led to an unprecedented rise in interest in Formula 1 in Spain. On television, Alonso's races have become the sports broadcasts with the most audiences in the country, sometimes even more than of soccer. For example, the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix had an audience of 9.3 million, with a screen share of 60.6% (80.2% in Asturias). Meanwhile, the Grand The 2007 Brazil Award had an audience of 9.0 million, with a share of 77.8% in Asturias and 69.2% in Madrid.
Alonso fans usually identify themselves with the light blue and yellow colors of the Asturias flag. Coincidentally, they are the same colors that the Renault team had until the 2006 season, with which the driver won his first titles.
Private life
Fernando Alonso has an older sister, Lorena. Alonso's father, José Luis Alonso, an amateur kart driver, wanted to transmit his passion to his children, so he built a kart that would originally be for eight-year-old Lorena, although she would not show interest in it. competition. Who did do it was his brother Fernando, who was three years old at the time.
From the age of four to fourteen, Alonso studied EGB at the Santo Ángel de la Guarda school in Oviedo. Later, he would study at the Leopoldo Alas Institute & # 34; Clarín & # 34; from Oviedo leaving his studies in the year 2000, to dedicate himself solely to motor racing.
Sentimentally, in 2005 he began a relationship with Raquel del Rosario, vocalist of the Spanish pop band El sueño de Morfeo, after they met at a tribute held by the SER radio station together with thousands of fans of the pilot in Madrid and in which the band performed some songs from their debut album. The following year, they got married in a very discreet way and tried to stay, since then, away from the gossip press. On December 20, 2011, both announced the separation of the marriage by mutual agreement through a statement on their official websites. After their divorce, Fernando Alonso began a relationship with the Russian model Dasha Kapustina that broke up at the end of 2014 and, later He had another with the journalist Lara Álvarez until 2016. In 2017 he began a relationship with the Italian model Linda Morselli, which lasted until 2022. Months later he announced his relationship with the Austrian journalist specialized in Formula 1 Andrea Schlager.
In 2006, the Spanish pilot was named UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Alonso lived in Oxford (England) until 2006, when he moved to Lugano (Ticino, Switzerland).
In 2007, the Asturian driver created the Fernando Alonso Foundation to foster and promote motor racing and projects for road safety education. Its headquarters is the Fernando Alonso Sports Complex, located in Asturias, which has a karting track and a driving school. In 2015 he inaugurated his museum at the same headquarters of the Foundation, where he exhibits memories of his entire automotive career, from helmets to cars.
On April 6, 2008, supported by his main sponsor, Alonso published a classified ad in the Spanish press offering a job as a "professional amateur" to one of his followers, so that he accompanied him in all the Grand Prix of the season and maintained a blog that allowed the pilot to be in direct contact with his fans. In just four days, there were 24,000 Alonso followers registered for the job offer at aficionadoprofesional.com, the website that processed the selection process.
In 2011, Alonso returned to live in Spain in his hometown, Oviedo, which will make him pay a third of his salary (which is about 55 million euros), to which the pilot declared «It's great go home. I'm happy to pay that money. I'm not poor, just a little less rich now."
Alonso practices cycling, tennis, swimming and soccer, his favorite teams being Real Madrid C. F., a club of which he is an Honorary Member, and Real Oviedo.
Alonso is often nicknamed 'El Nano'. Despite this, Antonio Lobato, a Formula 1 commentator, made him also known as "Magic", like Ayrton Senna (although for different reasons).
Other projects
Karting and FA Kart Camp
In June 2015, the Fernando Alonso museum and karting circuit was inaugurated in Llanera, (Asturias). the area they want to be pilots. At the same time, Alonso launched his own line of karts, made in Italy, the FA Kart.
Deriving from these creations, in 2016 the FA Racing Kart karting team began to compete with promising youngsters in national and European karting championships. At the end of 2017, he used this team to compete with Pedro de la Rosa, David Vidales (karting world runner-up in 2017), Ángel Burgueño and his personal assistant, Alberto Fernández & # 39; Galle & # 39; in the Dubai 24 hours of karting, where they finished in tenth overall position and 4th in the Nations Cup category. Both in karting and in single-seaters, the characteristic colors of these teams are red, yellow and Light Blue.
FA Racing
At the end of 2016 it was announced that the FA Racing team would be created the following year, focused on competing in the Spanish F4 Championship, with Xavier Lloveras and Guillem Pujeu as drivers for that first year. That first This year they would also participate in the SMP Formula 4. Lloveras, due to disagreements with the organization, would leave the Spanish championship, leaving Pujeu alone in a team run by his family, finishing sixth in the 2017 drivers' championship and second, only 8 points behind. to be champion in 2018. In the 2019 season success came for the team, the Argentine Franco Colapinto managed to win the drivers' championship as well as the team won the teams' championship.
For 2019, the entry of the team in the Formula Renault Eurocup together with Drivex in the structure is announced. The lack of funds leaves them unable to compete in the penultimate round of the championship, although the team announces its intention to register for the 2020 season.
They are also entering the world of eSports thanks to G2 Esports, with this project they hope to establish themselves as one of the leading clubs in simracing.
Negotiations for the purchase of Euskaltel Euskadi
On September 2, 2013, it was announced that an agreement in principle had been reached to buy the license of the Euskaltel Euskadi cycling team, which a few weeks before had announced its disappearance after not being able to find a sponsor to support the project. After the agreement and with a view to the 2014 season, the headquarters of the cycling team would move from the Basque Country to Asturias and would have the leadership on the road of Samuel Sánchez, an Asturian runner who defended the colors of the Basque team throughout his sports career. With this acquisition, Alonso sought to continue with the contracts of the team's riders for 2014, and also to sign new world-class cyclists, contrasting with what the Basque team used to do, to put the icing on the cake of the project. In addition, there was talk about the possibility of signing Alberto Contador, a friend of Alonso himself. Finally, several weeks of negotiations, without reaching an agreement, ended with the talks between the team and the pilot, so the project was not carried out.
Fernando Alonso in the cinema
- In 2006, Fernando Alonso lent his voice to double one of the characters in the film CarsPixar Company.
- In the sequel Cars, Cars 2, there is a character based on Alonso and also bent by him.
- In the third delivery of Cars, Cars 3, Alonso appears as voice assistant of the protagonist "Cruz Ramírez".
- Amazon Prime Video produces in 2020 the documentary series of Fernando Alonso called: Fernando.
Kimoa
In 2017, Alonso founded his own clothing and accessories brand called Kimoa, which offers shirts, swimsuits, sunglasses, caps, among others. He was a sponsor of McLaren in 2018, until the Spaniard's retirement of Formula 1 at the end of the year.
Awards and recognitions
- Recognition
- Festival de Italia: 1996.
- Marlboro Grand Prix: 1996.
- Paris-Berçi: 1998.
- Industry (Italy): 1998.
- Open Ford: 1998.
- Gregor Grant Award: 2003.
- International Racing Driver Award: 2006.
- Trophy DHL Quick Return: 2010.
- Best pilot chosen by team leaders: 2010 and 2012.
- International Community Sport Award 2011.
- BBC Development of the Year: 2013.
- Prize Confartigianato Motori the Best Pilot of the Year 2022.
- Decorations
| Distinction | Year |
|---|---|
 Gold Medal – Royal Sports Merit Order
| 2006 |
| Oviedo Predilect Son | 2005 |
| Giving | Year |
| National Sports Award «Best Spanish Sportsman of the Year» | 2005 |
 Prince of Asturias Sports Award
| 2005 |
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