Fernando Alonso Díaz (Spanish pronunciation: [feɾˈnando aˈlonso ˈði.aθ] ; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Aston Martin in Formula One. He won the series’ World Drivers’ Championship in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Minardi. With Toyota, Alonso won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 2018 and 2019, and the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2018–19. He also won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Wayne Taylor Racing in 2019. As of 2024, Alonso is the only driver to win both the F1 World Drivers’ Championship and the World Endurance Championship, even if the World Sportscar Championship is included in WEC.[2][3]
Born in Oviedo, Asturias to a working-class family, Alonso began kart racing at the age of three and achieved success in local, national, and world championships. He progressed to car racing at the age of 17, winning the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 and was fourth in the International Formula 3000 Championship of 2000. He debuted in Formula One with Minardi in 2001 before joining Renault as a test driver for 2002. Promoted to a race seat in 2003, Alonso won two drivers’ championships in 2005 and 2006, becoming the youngest pole-sitter, youngest race winner, youngest world champion, and youngest two-time champion in the sport’s history at the time. After finishing just one point behind eventual champion Kimi Räikkönen with McLaren in 2007, he returned to Renault for 2008 and 2009 and won two races in the former year for fifth overall. Alonso drove for Ferrari from 2010 to 2014, finishing runner-up to Sebastian Vettel in 2010, 2012, and 2013 with the title battles in 2010 and 2012 going down to the last race of the season. A second stint with McLaren (this time with Honda engines) from 2015 to 2018 resulted in no further success. After a two-year sabbatical, Alonso returned to Formula One in 2021 with Alpine. At the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix, Alonso scored his first podium in seven years. At the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix, he broke the record for most starts in Formula One. Alonso moved to Aston Martin for the 2023 season, where he saw great success at the beginning of the season, with six podium finishes in the first eight races. At the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Alonso scored his 100th podium by finishing third, becoming one of six drivers in the series’ history to achieve that feat.
Alonso has won 32 Grands Prix, earned 22 pole positions, and scored 2300 points from 384 starts. He is currently the only Spanish Formula One driver to have won the World Championship. Until Carlos Sainz‘s maiden win at the 2022 British Grand Prix, Alonso was the only Spaniard to win a Formula One Grand Prix.[3] Alonso won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations Cup with the rally driver Jesús Puras and the motorcyclist Rubén Xaus for Team Spain and thrice entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, the Premios Nacionales del Deporte Sportsman of the Year Award and the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit and has twice been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame. Alonso runs an esports and junior racing team and is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Early life and karting career
Alonso was born on 29 July 1981 to a working-class family in Oviedo, Asturias, Northern Spain.[4][5] He is the son of the mine shaft explosives factory mechanic and amateur kart driver José Luis Alonso,[5][6] and his wife,[6] the department store employee Ana Díaz.[4][7] Alonso has an elder sister, Lorena, who is a doctor.[7]
He was educated at the Holy Guardian Angel Primary School (Spanish: Santo Ángel de la Guarda) in Oviedo from 1985 to 1995 under the Basic Education System (Spanish: Educación General Básica).[8] Alonso attended the Institute Leopoldo Alas Clarín of San Lazaro (Spanish: Instituto Leopoldo Alas Clarín de San Lázaro) until his career in motor racing caused him to leave during his Curso de Orientación Universitaria (English: University Orientation Course) in 2000.[8] He was granted a permit to study away from school,[9] after he disobeyed his mother’s orders and seldom attended classes.[10] He achieved a good academic performance by asking his classmates for notes and was unproblematic.[8][11]
Alonso’s father wanted a hobby to share with his children and built a go-kart for Lorena. She was uninterested in karting and a three-year-old Alonso received the kart.[4][6][12] The kart’s pedals were modified for drive-ability,[5][9] and the local racing federation granted him a mandatory kart racing license aged five;[7] his father rejected an offer for his son to be a goalkeeper for the RC Celta de Vigo football club.[9][13] The family lacked the finances required to develop him in karts;[4] they could not purchase rain tyres and forced Alonso to adapt to a wet track on slick tyres.[14] Alonso devised three timing sectors going to school to improve himself daily.[15] His mother sewed his racing overalls and adjusted them as he grew;[16] she also ensured Alonso was academically well off.[4] His father steered the kart early on and was his accountant, counsellor, manager and mechanic.[16][17]
Aged seven, Alonso won his first kart race in Pola de Laviana.[7][18] He won the 1988 and 1989 children’s junior Championship of the Asturias and Galicia, and progressed to the Cadet class in 1990.[19][20] Go-kart importer Genís Marcó was impressed by Alonso and mentored him;[19] kart track owner José Luis Echevarria told him about Alonso. Marcó found personal and sponsorship money for Alonso’s family to defray financial concerns and allow him to enter European series.[7][10][21] He spoke to the six-time Karting World Champion Mike Wilson, who gave Alonso a test session at a track in Parma.[19] Marcó taught Alonso to be conservative and maintain the condition of a kart.[22]
Alonso won the 1990 Asturias and the Basque Country Cadet Championship and finished second in the 1991 Spanish Cadet National Championship.[7] The local karting federation allowed him to enter the 100cc class because he was deemed underage to drive more powerful machinery. At a Catalan Karting Championship meet in Móra d’Ebre, Marcó asked Alonso if he wanted to enter the Spanish Karting Championship.[21] Wilson mentored Alonso; he joined the Italian American Motor Engineering works team in 1993.[19] Alonso won three successive Spanish Junior National Championships from 1993 to 1995.[20]
The results allowed him to progress to the world championships.[7] Alonso was third at the 1995 Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK-FIA) Cadets’ Rainbow Trophy.[19] Alonso was a mechanic to younger kart drivers to earn money.[9] He won his fourth Spanish Junior Karting Championship, the Trofeo Estival, the Marlboro Masters,[20] and the CIK-FIA 5 Continents Juniors Cup at the Karting Genk in 1996.[19] In 1997, he took the Italian and Spanish International A championships and was second in the European Championship with nine wins, the Masters Karting Paris Bercy and the Spanish Karting Championship.[7]
