155 Facts About Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso won the series' World Drivers' Championship in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, and has driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Minardi.

Fernando Alonso won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Wayne Taylor Racing in 2019.

Fernando Alonso 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.

Fernando Alonso debuted in Formula One with Minardi in 2001 before joining Renault as a test driver for 2002.

Fernando 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.

At the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso scored his first podium in seven years.

At the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso scored his 100th podium by finishing third, becoming one of six drivers in the series' history to achieve that feat.

At the time of his sabbatical, Fernando Alonso had won 32 Grands Prix, 22 pole positions, and 1,899 points from 311 starts.

Fernando Alonso is currently the only Spanish Formula One driver to have won the World Championship.

Fernando Alonso won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations Cup with the rally driver Jesus Puras and the motorcyclist Ruben Xaus for Team Spain and thrice entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2017,2019 and 2020.

Fernando Alonso 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.

Fernando Alonso runs an esports and junior racing team and is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Fernando Alonso was born on 29 July 1981 to a working-class family in Oviedo, Asturias, Northern Spain.

Fernando Alonso is the son of the mine shaft explosives factory mechanic and amateur kart driver Jose Luis Alonso, and his wife, the department store employee Ana Diaz.

Fernando Alonso has an elder sister, Lorena, who is a doctor.

Fernando Alonso was educated at the Holy Guardian Angel Primary School in Oviedo from 1985 to 1995 under the Basic Education System.

Fernando Alonso attended the Institute Leopoldo Alas Clarin of San Lazaro until his career in motor racing caused him to leave during his Curso de Orientacion Universitaria in 2000.

Fernando Alonso was granted a permit to study away from school, after he disobeyed his mother's orders and seldom attended classes.

Fernando Alonso achieved a good academic performance by asking his classmates for notes and was unproblematic.

Fernando Alonso's father wanted a hobby to share with his children and built a go-kart for Lorena.

Fernando Alonso was uninterested in karting and a three-year-old Alonso received the kart.

The family lacked the finances required to develop him in karts; they could not purchase rain tyres and forced Fernando Alonso to adapt to a wet track on slick tyres.

Fernando Alonso devised three timing sectors going to school to improve himself daily.

Fernando Alonso's mother sewed his racing overalls and adjusted them as he grew; she ensured Alonso was academically well off.

Fernando Alonso's father steered the kart early on and was his accountant, counsellor, manager and mechanic.

Aged seven, Fernando Alonso won his first kart race in Pola de Laviana.

Fernando Alonso won the 1988 and 1989 children's junior Championship of the Asturias and Galicia, and progressed to the Cadet class in 1990.

Go-kart importer Genis Marco was impressed by Fernando Alonso and mentored him; kart track owner Jose Luis Echevarria told him about Fernando Alonso.

Fernando Alonso spoke to the six-time Karting World Champion Mike Wilson, who gave Alonso a test session at a track in Parma.

Marco taught Fernando Alonso to be conservative and maintain the condition of a kart.

Fernando Alonso won the 1990 Asturias and the Basque Country Cadet Championship and finished second in the 1991 Spanish Cadet National Championship.

Wilson mentored Fernando Alonso; he joined the Italian American Motor Engineering works team in 1993.

Fernando Alonso won three successive Spanish Junior National Championships from 1993 to 1995.

Fernando Alonso was third at the 1995 Commission Internationale de Karting Cadets' Rainbow Trophy.

Fernando Alonso was a mechanic to younger kart drivers to earn money.

Fernando Alonso won his fourth Spanish Junior Karting Championship, the Trofeo Estival, the Marlboro Masters, and the CIK-FIA 5 Continents Juniors Cup at the Karting Genk in 1996.

Aged 17, Fernando Alonso made his car racing debut in the 1999 Euro Open by Nissan with Campos Motorsport, winning the title from Manuel Giao at the final race of the season with six wins and nine pole positions.

Fernando Alonso finished second at the Hungaroring and won the season-ending round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for fourth overall with 17 points.

Fernando Alonso was Minardi's test and reserve driver in 2000 before joining its race team in 2001.

Fernando Alonso signed as Renault's test driver for 2002 per the orders of manager Flavio Briatore to familiarise himself with the team and improve himself for the future.

Fernando Alonso worked with the engineering department to improve Giancarlo Fisichella's and Jenson Button's performance, and tested in Spain and the United Kingdom.

Fernando Alonso drove a Jaguar in an evaluation session against test drivers Andre Lotterer and James Courtney at the Silverstone Circuit in May 2002.

Fernando Alonso was promoted to the Renault race team for 2003.

Fernando Alonso went on to break the records of youngest driver to win a pole position at the season's second race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, and broke Bruce McLaren's record as the youngest F1 race winner at the Hungarian Grand Prix later in the year.

Fernando Alonso achieved four podium finishes in 2003 and was sixth in the World Drivers' Championship with 55 points.

Fernando Alonso had an improved season: he finished the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in third position and took three more podium finishes that year.

Fernando Alonso took pole position for the French Grand Prix and achieved no race victories en route to fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 59 points.

Fernando Alonso duelled with McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen for the World Championship in 2005 due to regulation changes mandating teams not to change tyres during a race and engines had to last for two races before they could be changed.

Fernando Alonso's car was more reliable than Raikkonen's albeit lacking in speed.

Fernando Alonso eclipsed Emerson Fittipaldi as the youngest World Drivers' Champion, having won seven victories, six pole positions and fourteen podium finishes for 133 points.

Fernando Alonso signed a contract extension with Renault for 2006 in April 2005.

Fernando Alonso won six of the first nine races and finished no lower than second to lead the championship with 84 out of a possible 90 points.

Fernando Alonso won the race as Schumacher retired due to an engine failure whilst leading.

Fernando Alonso needed to score one point at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix for a second title.

Fernando Alonso won the championship by finishing second and was Formula 1's youngest double World Champion.

Renault allowed Fernando Alonso to make his first appearance for McLaren in a test session at the Circuito de Jerez in November 2006.

Fernando Alonso achieved four Grand Prix victories in Malaysia, Monaco, Europe and Italy and led the championship until Hamilton overtook him.

Fernando Alonso finished the event third for third overall with 109 points.

Fernando Alonso had the same number of points as Hamilton; the tie was broken on count-back as Hamilton finished second more often than Alonso.

Fernando Alonso was forbidden from joining a team whom McLaren considered their primary challengers for 2008.

Fernando Alonso's car lacked power early on due to an imposed moratorium in development and he scored nine points in the first seven races.

Fernando Alonso was thereafter able to improve his performance later due to aerodynamic developments to the car's and won in Singapore and Japan; the former race saw Renault order his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr.

Fernando Alonso scored more points than any other driver in the final five races with 43.

Fernando Alonso scored 61 points for fifth in the Drivers' Championship.

Fernando Alonso was due to become a free agent for 2009 if Renault were lower than third in the Constructors' Championship.

Fernando Alonso's car proved to be noncompetitive because it lacked a dual diffuser system and outright speed.

Fernando Alonso eschewed an aerodynamic front wing mandated in an attempt to make overtaking more possible since he did not believe it would help him.

Fernando Alonso scored points in eight races and achieved one podium finish: a third-place at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso won pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix and led the first 12 laps before he retired following an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel.

Fernando Alonso was ninth in the Drivers' Championship with 26 points, his lowest placing since he came sixth in 2003; he maintained his reputation as one of F1's best drivers.

Fernando Alonso agreed with Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to drive for Ferrari in 2009, but team principal Jean Todt extended the contracts of both Felipe Massa and Raikkonen to 2010.

Fernando Alonso obtained a mid-2009 agreement to drive for Ferrari from 2011 on but it was moved to 2010 after Renault were investigated for race fixing in Singapore and Raikkonen was released from the team.

Fernando Alonso won five races that season and entered the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix leading by eight points after being 47 behind mid-season following errors.

Fernando Alonso finished runner-up to Vettel after finishing seventh thereby losing 19 points to Vettel who won the race.

Fernando Alonso extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win the British Grand Prix after a strategy error from Red Bull.

Fernando Alonso's best qualification of the year was a second at the Canadian Grand Prix and he out-qualified his teammate Massa fifteen times over the course of the season.

Fernando Alonso was fourth overall with 257 points; he was in contention to finish second to eventual champion Vettel following a series of strong finishes until Webber won the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.

Ahead of 2012, Fernando Alonso extended his contract with Ferrari until 2016.

Fernando Alonso entered the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix 13 points behind Vettel and needed to finish third and for Vettel not to score points for a third championship.

Fernando Alonso was second and Vettel finished fourth, despite spinning on the opening lap, resigning Alonso to be runner-up for the second time in his career on 278 points.

Fernando Alonso was slower than Vettel after a change of tyre compound at the German Grand Prix and front and rear bodywork components intended to improve his car's performance were ineffective.

Fernando Alonso fell to sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 161 points.

Fernando Alonso had severe disagreements with team principal Marco Mattiacci in 2014 and left Ferrari after contract negotiations to remain at the team fell through.

Fernando Alonso rejoined McLaren on a three-year contract from 2015 to 2017 with no opt-out clauses.

An accident during a pre-season test session at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February 2015 saw Fernando Alonso sustain a concussion and he was replaced by reserve driver Kevin Magnussen for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso endured a difficult season: his car's Honda engine was under-powered and overall speed leaving him vulnerable to being passed.

Fernando Alonso scored points twice in 2015: a tenth in the British Grand Prix and a fifth in the Hungarian Grand Prix for 17th in the Drivers' Championship with 11 points.

Fernando Alonso was dissatisfied with a slow pace, which became evident after multiple radio complaints that year.

Fernando Alonso was tenth in the Drivers' Championship with 54 points.

Fernando Alonso stayed at McLaren in 2017, but poor reliability affected his season, particularly during the early rounds, and his best finish was a sixth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso finished fifth at the season-opening 2018 Australian Grand Prix and took nine top-ten finishes.

Fernando Alonso became increasingly annoyed with certain drivers and his commitment to F1 waned after McLaren stopped developing their car to focus on 2019.

Fernando Alonso was 11th in the Drivers' Championship with 50 points, and left the sport as a driver at the end of the 2018 season, citing a perceived lack of on-track racing, the predictability of results and felt discussions away from racing about the broadcast of radio transmissions and polemics harmed the series.

Fernando Alonso remained at McLaren as a brand ambassador to aid and advise drivers and drove in select test sessions to develop their cars.

Fernando Alonso drove the MCL34 during a two-day in-season post-race Bahrain test in April 2019 to develop tyres for Pirelli.

Fernando Alonso was signed to drive for Alpine F1 Team for the 2021 season, alongside Esteban Ocon, with Renault having rebranded the team under its new name.

In Hungary, Fernando Alonso temporarily led the race before he made a pit stop and fell to fourth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso scored points in multiple races following the summer break, finishing sixth in the Netherlands, eighth in Italy, sixth in Russia, having run in third in Russia before being forced to pit under wet conditions, and third in Qatar.

Fernando Alonso joined Aston Martin on a multi-year deal in 2023 alongside Lance Stroll.

Fernando Alonso joined the team because he wanted a multi-year contract extension, and Alpine was only willing to give him one more year in F1.

Fernando Alonso finished in third after a choatic Australian Grand Prix; the third and final restart of the session saw his car make contact with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr.

Fernando Alonso agreed with Sainz's criticisms of the penalty, stating that it was "too harsh".

Fernando Alonso made his sports car endurance racing debut at the 1999 24 Hours of Barcelona.

Fernando Alonso was due to enter the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche's Le Mans Prototype 1 team before Honda blocked it.

Fernando Alonso drove a Ligier JS P217 entered by United Autosports in the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Fernando Alonso returned to race in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona with Wayne Taylor Racing.

Brown discussed an entry for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with Fernando Alonso and was prepared to consent to a switch to another team if certain circumstances were met.

Fernando Alonso visited Toyota's factory in Cologne for a seat fitting in a TS050 Hybrid in November 2017.

Fernando Alonso joined Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in Toyota's No 8 TS050 Hybrid.

Fernando Alonso drove a 2018 TS050 Hybrid in a three-day test session at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragon in February and drove with no artificial lights in a 24-hour kart race as preparation.

The idea later re-emerged in a conservation in Los Angeles and Fernando Alonso told Brown he was happy with the idea since McLaren had won it before.

Miles met the Andretti Autosport owner Michael Andretti, who got driver Stefan Wilson to agree to forego his planned entry in partnership with Michael Shank Racing and allow Fernando Alonso to drive instead.

Fernando Alonso tested a 2018-specification Andretti Autosport-entered Dallara DW12-Honda at the Barber Motorsports Park on 5 September.

Fernando Alonso ventured to the McLaren Technology Centre in early March 2019 for a seat fitting to become comfortable in the No 66 Dallara IR18-Chevrolet and its brake pedal was shifted away from his feet since it is used less in IndyCar than in Formula One.

Fernando Alonso did not qualify after Juncos Racing's Kyle Kaiser demoted him to 34th.

Reasons included a dismantled spare car needed to assembled and flown from Carlin's factory after Fernando Alonso crashed in practice.

Fernando Alonso entered the 2020 Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren SP after an agreement with Andretti Autosports fell through.

Fernando Alonso started 26th, was running 15th halfway through the race, and then ended up P21 and one lap down because of a clutch issue causing the team to manually start the car during every pit stop.

Fernando Alonso entered the Dakar Rally with Toyota in 2020 following a five-month testing programme in Africa, Europe and the Middle East and driving a series of races to better himself.

Fernando Alonso was third at the Al Ula-Neom Rally, which was his highest finish in three preparation events.

Fernando Alonso is often regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers in the history of the sport.

Fernando Alonso's experience increased his awareness of events around him and competitors in a race and adjusted his situation to focus on the drivers' championship.

Fernando Alonso is an all-round driver who can mount an apex and correct a sliding car to go faster.

Fernando Alonso is careful in finding the ideal feeling with his brakes and can apply the maximum amount of force with a fast response time.

Fernando Alonso's helmet manufactured by Bieffe, Arai, Schuberth Bell sports the yellow and red colours of the flag of Spain with shades of blue from the Asturias flag coupled with two silver thunderbolt arrows derived from a remote control car he received as a present in his childhood on top.

Fernando Alonso changed its mainbase colour design when switching teams during his F1 career; in 2008 Alonso attached two pictures of a spade, ace and heart symbol to show he was a two-time world champion.

At the following 2013 Indian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso sported a white helmet to celebrate his total number of career points scored up to the preceding Japanese Grand Prix of 1571 and with the words "F1 points World Record" accompanied with a thank you message in English, French and Italian.

At the 2017 Indianapolis 500 and the 2017 United States Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso sported a black helmet with red, yellow and blue stripes around it and his race number.

Fernando Alonso revised the livery for the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona to white instead of black and had no stripes around the front.

In 2018 Fernando Alonso changed its front livery to be predominantly blue with the back top lighter blue and the rear red and yellow.

Fernando Alonso requested the number 14 for it has been his lucky number since his world karting championship victory in a kart with number 14, at the age of 14, on 14 July 1996.

Nate Saunders of ESPN writes that Fernando Alonso "is one of the most eloquent speakers in F1 and one of the best at interacting with the media".

Fernando Alonso occasionally uses press conferences with the press to cultivate particular narratives of a story, convey himself as controlling the F1 driver market or as the one with knowledge of facts of a situation.

Fernando Alonso has been noted for refraining from expensive habits and possessions.

Fernando Alonso acknowledged the facade and told Anderson "I know who I am outside of F1, but that remains a question mark for everybody because I like to separate my personal life from my professional life" and his different personality traits in public and private.

Fernando Alonso made a voice cameo appearance as an anthropomorphic version of himself in the Spanish dub of Cars 2, and a voice command assistant in the Spanish dub of Cars 3.

Fernando Alonso was Personality Media's favourite male athlete with a 99 per cent recognition rating amongst the Spanish public in 2015; in the latter part of his F1 career, Alonso was within the top two most popular drivers in the Grand Prix Drivers' Association fan surveys of 2010,2015 and 2017.

Fernando Alonso is the founder and brand ambassador of the fashion retailer Kimoa, and intended to establish the Fernando Alonso Cycling Team to compete in UCI events in 2015 before the project failed to materialise.

Fernando Alonso featured on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2008 and 2017.

In 2020, Fernando Alonso was sponsored by Ruoff Mortgage for his Indianapolis 500 attempt.

In November 2017 Fernando Alonso established the FA Racing G2 Logitech G eSports racing team of which he is the team principal and competes in virtual online racing championships on multiple platforms.

Fernando Alonso's team has competed in the F4 Spanish Championship, Formula Renault Eurocup and karting.

Fernando Alonso is an investor and board member of the eSports multi-racing platform Motorsport Games.

Fernando Alonso promoted India's efforts to eradicate polio in 2011 and handwashing with soap to school children in 2012, whilst he supported UNICEF's anti-cyberbullying campaign in November 2017.

Fernando Alonso received the 2003 Autosport Gregor Grant Award for winning the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso won the Princess Cristina National Sports Award for sporting newcomer in that year.

Fernando Alonso was named the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy's recipient in April 2005.

Fernando Alonso was named the 2006 Autosport International Racing Driver of the Year.

Fernando Alonso was voted the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year for his performance in the 2017 Indianapolis 500.

Fernando Alonso was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2017 for being a F1 World Champion and again as a FIA World Endurance Champion in 2019.

From November 2006 to December 2011, Fernando Alonso was married to Raquel del Rosario, the lead singer of the Spanish pop band El Sueno de Morfeo.

Fernando Alonso was engaged to Spanish television presenter Lara Alvarez from 2015 to 2016.

Fernando Alonso dated Italian model Linda Morselli from 2016 to 2021.

Fernando Alonso supports the Real Madrid and Real Oviedo football teams, and is a cycling enthusiast.

Fernando Alonso broke the record for the longest distance covered in F1 with a total of 92,643 Kilometers driven after his fifth-place finish in the 2022 British Grand Prix.