Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso Díaz (born on July 29, 1981 in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain) is a Formula One racing driver, currently living in Oxford, England. On September 25 2005 he won the World Driver's Championship title at the age of 24 years and 59 days, thus breaking Emerson Fittipaldi's record of being the youngest F1 champion, and ending Michael Schumacher's run of five consecutive championships.

Alonso was often tipped to be Schumacher's natural successor, sharing some of his attributes. He is one of the drivers capable of being on the pace every lap in a race and having the ability of driving around problems while losing minimal lap time. He is nicknamed El Nano (El Nanu in Asturian).

Personal and early life

Born Fernando Alonso Díaz (Alonso is his father's first surname; Díaz, his mother's - this is the regular Spanish custom) on July 29, 1981, in Oviedo, in the Asturias province of northern Spain. His mother worked in a department store and his father was employed as an explosives expert in the mining industry. The Alonsos and their two children, older sister Lorena and Fernando, lived comfortably but were by no means a wealthy family. Fernando’s father José Luis, an amateur kart racer, wished to pass on his passion to his children. He built a pedal kart mimicking an F1 car. Originally the kart was meant for eight-year-old Lorena but she showed no interest in the sport, as opposed to her three-year-old brother, who was eager to have a go. His parents said he showed a competitive spirit at that young age. He is currently engaged to Raquel del Rosario, the lead singer of the Spanish pop group El Sueño de Morfeo.

Career

Pre-Formula One

As a child, Alonso and his father, who also doubled as his mechanic, competed in karting competitions around Spain. While his entire family fully supported Fernando’s increasingly successful hobby, his progress required more funding than his family’s resources could provide. It was difficult to acquire sponsorships and the only way to get the financial backings was to win races, and so he did. Age was never a hindrance as he easily won three Spanish Karting Titles (1994, 1996 and 1997). He raced in the European Karting Championship, placing second, and by his mid teens he was the world junior karting champion in 1996.

In 1999, Alonso made the jump to open-wheel cars, racing the Spanish Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan (his first and last season in the series) with the help of former Minardi F1 driver Adrián Campos. Then only 18 years old, he became the series champion, immediately earning him a ticket to Formula 3000 in 2000. A win at the Spa-Francorchamps highlighted a very solid fourth place in the drivers championship, and Alonso was off for Formula One in 2001.

Formula One

2001: Minardi

Main article: Minardi

Alonso was the third-youngest driver to start a F1 race when he made his debut with Minardi at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. The car was not highly competitive during his rookie season, and Alonso failed to score a championship point. However, in the races he finished without mechanical problems, he was usually ahead of his team mate, and sometimes ahead of technically superior cars.

2002-2006: Renault

Main article: Renault F1

2002-03

His driving talents earned him a spot with the newly-founded Renault team in 2002 as a test driver (run by his manager, Flavio Briatore); the team groomed him to be a regular driver in 2003. With a much better car than in his first F1 stint and in only his second race for Renault, Alonso became the youngest driver ever to achieve a Formula One pole position at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix; however, on this occasion he was beaten to the flag by Kimi Räikkönen and Rubens Barrichello. His early season performance was also marred by a massive 180mph crash at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, the result of missing the yellow flags brought out by Mark Webber's earlier crash and an accident which resulted in the race being red-flagged. Nonetheless, he finished second at his home grand prix two races later, and became the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One race at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix later in the season. At the season's end, he was classified sixth in the championship, with 55 points and four podiums.

Fernando Alonso driving for the Renault Formula One team at the 2004 US Grand Prix

2004

Alonso remained with Renault for the 2004 season but the R24 kept him out of the winner's circle. In the early part of 2004, though, questions were asked of Alonso when he was comprehensively out-qualified and out-raced by teammate Jarno Trulli. The situation would change towards the end of the year when Trulli suffered a lack of form and also dropped Renault boss Flavio Briatore as his manager. Trulli's relationship with the team deteriorated to the extent that he signed for Toyota from 2005 onwards, and even left for his new team for the final 3 races of 2004. Though he had no wins, Alonso ended the year a career-best fourth in the championship standings, scoring 59 points and four podiums.

2005

For the 2005 championship season, he was joined by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella. He finished third in the first race in Australia. In the second race of the season in Malaysia he got pole position and easily won the race. Alonso repeated this form in the season's third race, winning the Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position, and continued his good form with a close win over Michael Schumacher in the San Marino Grand Prix after an epic battle with the 7-time World Champion lasting about 13 laps. While he did not win his home grand prix he set the mark for the rest of the season, driving consistently to finish second after Kimi Räikkönen.

McLaren's improving form saw Räikkönen win again at Monaco while Alonso suffered from high tyre wear, though finishing fourth. One of the most memorable moments of the 2005 season was Räikkönen's spectacular exit from the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring during the last few laps, which granted the win to Alonso. Räikkönen had flat-spotted a tyre which started severe vibrations which eventually caused the suspension to fail.

Alonso's run of good results came to an end at the Canadian Grand Prix, when he made a mistake and crashed into the wall at the Villeneuve corner, damaging his suspension, after coming under pressure from the McLarens of Juan Pablo Montoya and Räikkönen. It was his first retirement of the year.

At the United States Grand Prix, due to safety concerns over the Michelin tyres, Alonso, along with all the other Michelin drivers, did not start.

Alonso took his third pole position of the season at the French Grand Prix, and led the race from start to finish, winning his fifth race of the season. He followed this with pole position a week later at the British Grand Prix, where he finished a conservative second behind a McLaren-Mercedes, as colombian Juan Pablo Montoya took his first victory of the season.

McLaren's poor reliability granted another win to Alonso at the German Grand Prix when Kimi Räikkönen's car suffered a hydraulic failure. Alonso then celebrated his 24th birthday two days before the Hungarian Grand Prix but qualified only 6th and finished 11th and out of the points after a collision with the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher that partly damaged his car.

At the Turkish Grand Prix Alonso took 2nd place from Juan Pablo Montoya after the Colombian collided with Tiago Monteiro in the closing stages of the race. At Monza, Alonso qualified third and drove consistently to finish second behind Montoya.

At the Belgian Grand Prix, Alonso finished second and struggled with a car which was extremely difficult to drive due to a less than ideal set-up for the track conditions. He again made up a place in the closing stages after Antônio Pizzonia crashed into Montoya.

The Spaniard qualified on pole, but finished 3rd in the Brazilian Grand Prix to clinch the Driver's Championship title at the age of 24 years and 59 days old, thus breaking Emerson Fittipaldi's record of being the youngest F1 champion in history by about 18 months, and ending the 5-year dominance of Michael Schumacher. He had led the championship from the second race of the season. Commenting on his victory, he said:

"I just want to dedicate this championship to my family, and all my close friends who have supported me through my career. Spain is not a country with an F1 culture, and we had to fight alone, every step of the way, to make this happen. A huge thank-you should also go to the team as well - they are the best in Formula One, and we have done this together. It will say that I am world champion, but we are all champions - and they deserve this."

The Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix saw Alonso and Renault abandon the conservative style evident in Brazil when he was still chasing the championship title and Renault closed the performance gap considerably. Jordan's commercial director Ian Phillips described Alonso's overtaking manoeuvre around Schumacher at Suzuka as “one of the best of all time at this grandiose circuit”. Starting from 16th on the grid, he eventually finished third behind race-winner Räikkönen, who started from 17th on the grid and clinched victory with a last-lap pass on Fisichella, and his team mate. The Chinese Grand Prix saw Renault and Alonso win to claim the 1st Constructor’s Championship for the Renault F1 team.

Proponents of Kimi Räikkönen argue that he has been the best driver of the 2005 season despite having the same number of victories (seven) as the Spaniard. Without the reliability issues Räikkönen might have won the Drivers' Championship. However some commentators agree that Alonso fully deserves the title, dominating the early part of the season while McLaren struggled and driving consistently since then to capitalise on Räikkönen's problems.

2006

Fernando Alonso's 2006 helmet design

Alonso's season started with a close win over Michael Schumacher at the Bahrain Grand Prix, overtaking the German after coming out of the pitlane with 18 laps left. He had qualified fourth but was able to win after overtaking Massa and edging Schumacher out after his last pit stop.

He qualified a disappointing seventh at the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a fueling error but was able to finish second to team mate Giancarlo Fisichella after an excellent start, overtaking four cars, and with a better race pace than Jenson Button. Fernando beat Kimi Räikkönen to victory in Australia after overtaking leader Jenson Button's Honda.

After poor qualifying (by their past standards) for both Renaults at San Marino, Alonso was unable to pass Michael Schumacher for the majority of the race, partly due to the track's lack of overtaking opportunities and partly due to Schumacher's defensive driving in a Ferrari which appeared considerably faster on the straights. Renault attempted to pre-empt Ferrari with an early pitstop but a clear in-lap for Schumacher, who counter-attacked by pitting early in the next lap, coupled with traffic for Alonso's out-lap, allowed Schumacher to leave the pit lane seconds before Alonso could pass him. Later, Alonso considered the early pitstop a tactical mistake. Schumacher won to reverse the positions of the previous year's San Marino Grand Prix.

Alonso won pole ahead of Schumacher for the European Grand Prix. It was thought he qualified with less fuel than in previous grands prix but this was not the case, as the Spaniard pitted only two laps ahead of Schumacher in the first stint. However, in the second stint Schumacher pitted several laps later and emerged 5.5 seconds ahead of Alonso. Those positions remained until the end of the race, with Felipe Massa finishing third and Kimi Räikkönen fourth, both just behind Alonso, as Räikkönen had been pressuring Massa in the final laps and appeared faster. On May 14, 2006, Alonso dominated to win the Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the first Spaniard to win his home grand prix.

He achieved his 12th victory and 12th pole position in the Monaco Grand Prix, the latter several hours after the qualifying session had concluded. Schumacher was sanctioned by the stewards for "deliberately stopping his car on the circuit in the last few minutes of qualifying", denying his rivals, Alonso included, the opportunity of recording fastest qualifying lap. During the race, Alonso was mainly threatened by Kimi Räikkönen, who ran close to him for much of the race, and Mark Webber, who looked set to challenge for the lead in the next round of pit stops. Both suffered mechanical problems and withdrew, allowing Fernando Alonso to cruise to his first victory at Monaco.

Alonso dominated the British Grand Prix from the Saturday qualifying session to the end of the race on Sunday. It was the first time Alonso achieved pole position, victory and fastest lap in a grand prix. Schumacher and Räikkönen joined him on the podium. The 2006 Canadian Grand Prix was a new victory for him, and his fifth pole position in a row. Michael Schumacher finished second after taking advantage of a late error by Kimi Räikkönen, who finished third, and a safety car period that allowed both of them to reduce the gap to the driver ahead.

His run of good results ended at the United States Grand Prix, when he qualified fifth and finished the race in that position. Ferrari were superior all weekend and Michael Schumacher won the race, followed by his teammate Felipe Massa, and Giancarlo Fisichella. This meant Alonso's advantage over Schumacher in the championship was reduced from 25 points to 19. Schumacher won the French Grand Prix too, with Alonso finishing second and losing 2 more advantage points. It had been suggested Michelin (tyre suppliers for Renault) had been too conservative at the United States Grand Prix. However, the French Grand Prix showed Bridgestone (tyre suppliers for Ferrari) were competitive in general, and had improved the quality of their tyres.

He finished fifth in the German Grand Prix while Michael Schumacher achieved another victory, the 89th of his career. This negative result, due to the lack of competitiveness of the car, by which his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella was also affected, meant that Schumacher closed the gap to 11 points in the championship, with Ferrari subsequently reducing the gap to 10 points in the constructors' championship.

Alonso was involved in an incident with Red Bull Racing Test Driver Robert Doornbos in the 2nd free Practice Session of the Hungarian Grand Prix. As a consequence, he was investigated by race stewards after the session concluded. They subsequently penalised him by adding 2 seconds to his final qualifying time, 1 second for giving Doornbos a braketest, and 1 second for overtaking under a yellow flag in a separate incident in the same session. He qualified in 15th place. Rival Michael Schumacher qualified in 11th place after being penalised with 2 seconds for overtaking two pilots (Alonso and Kubica) under a red flag during the Saturday morning practice session. Neither of them finished the race in points (both had mechanical problems but Schumacher was able to finish the race in 9th position) and the championship situation was going to stay the same. However, Robert Kubica was disqualified, allowing Schumacher to grab one point. Later, Alonso was able to finish second in the Turkish Grand Prix ahead of Schumacher, third, after passing him in a pit stop during a safety car period. They held a 1-on-1 battle during the last 13 laps, but Alonso defended his postion. This result gave him a 12-points advantage with 4 races remaining.

At the Italian Grand Prix Alonso suffered a tyre puncture during qualifying that also damaged bodywork at the back of his chassis. He still managed to qualify fifth but was later controversialy punished by the stewards for blocking Felipe Massa's Ferrari, and he started the race from the 10th position. Renault reacted angryly to the penalty and Fernando Alonso described Formula One as "not anymore a sport". In the race he rose to third place, overtaking Massa during the last round of pit stops and Robert Kubica during the pit stop itself. However a mechanical problem with his engine forced him to withdraw. Michael Schumacher won the grand prix and cut Alonso's Championship lead to two points.

At the following round in China, Alonso qualified on pole, thanks in part to a rain affected qualifying session that was kinder to the Michelin tyre. The race took place on a drying track and Alonso eventually finished second. A strong opening stint gave him an enormous lead, but poor tyre choice at the first pit stops left him with massive understeer, costing him up to two seconds a lap to the chasing Fisichella and Schumacher. Having dropped back to third place by his second pit stop the Renault team made the decision to swith to slick tyres. Unfortunately, through a bungled wheel change, the Renault was stationary for 19 seconds. The new tyres gave the car a performance boost and he was able to pass his team mate, but not Schumacher. The result demoted Alonso to second place in the drivers championship, as depite being level on points with Schumacher, he had only six wins to Schumacher's seven. However, Fisichella's third place would return Renault to the top of the Constructors standings.

During the 2006 season he was seen performing some sort of animal movements after his victories. When asked about them, he said "It’s a secret. It’s not an animal, either.", indicating it was some kind of inside joke or bet with his friends or family.

2007 Onwards: McLaren

Main article: McLaren

On December 19, 2005, Fernando Alonso announced that he would be moving to McLaren for 2007. For some, this immediately put some doubt on whether he would perform well with Renault in 2006, given that they might not throw their full support behind a driver who they knew was going to leave them at the end of the season. Others saw it as a sign that Renault was pulling out of Formula 1 at the end of that season. However, Alonso's overall performance, and Carlos Ghosn's announcement that Renault would stay committed to Formula 1 put an end to those rumours.

Awards

He has been awarded the 2005 Prince of Asturias Award of Sports, the youngest to receive the prize.

Also, before the closing of the 2005 season, retired three-times F1 title holder Niki Lauda, hailed Alonso as:

"perfect, the most complete performer in Formula One today and thoroughly deserving of becoming the 2005 world champion. Yet I also have to say that Alonso is extraordinary. The more pressure he has the better he drives. I've never seen any driver of that age so completely composed and consistent. OK, so he made one slip at Montreal [when he hit the wall] but, speaking for myself, I reckon that I would have made many more mistakes if I'd been in that position at that age. I cannot find a single weakness in Alonso from any viewpoint. He's obviously a huge asset to the Renault team but more importantly a huge asset to the sport as a whole. I think he is perfect."

While he was managing the Brazilian team in the inaugural race of the A1 Grand Prix at Brand's Hatch, Emerson Fittipaldi was asked to comment on his feelings about possibly losing the record to Alonso, to which he replied, "My record is going to be in good hands."

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Team	WDC	Points
2001	Minardi	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			Minardi	23rd	0
2003	Renault	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				Renault	6th	55
2004	Renault	AUS 3	MYS 7	BAH 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		Renault	4th	59
2005	Renault	AUS 3	MYS 1	BAH 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	Renault	1st	133
2006	Renault	BAH 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	BRA		Renault	2nd*	116*

* Denotes present season standing

References

See also

• List of Formula One drivers
• List of Spaniards
• Alonsomania

External links

• The official site for Fernando Alonso
• Fernando Alonso profile and statistics
• Fernando Alonso statistics
• Fernando Alonso statistics and profile

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