Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso
Alonso in 2017
Born
Fernando Alonso Díaz

(1981-07-29) 29 July 1981 (age 43)
Spouse
(m. 2006; div. 2011)
Partners
Formula One World Championship career
NationalitySpain Spanish
2024 teamAston Martin Aramco-Mercedes[1]
Car number14
Entries401 (398 starts)
Championships2 (2005, 2006)
Wins32
Podiums106
Career points2329
Pole positions22
Fastest laps26
First entry2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last win2013 Spanish Grand Prix
Last entry2024 São Paulo Grand Prix
2023 position4th (206 pts)
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Racing licence FIA Platinum
Years active2018–19
TeamsToyota
Starts8
Championships1 (2018–19)
Wins5
Podiums7
Poles4
Fastest laps2
Best finish1st in 2018–19 (LMP1)
IndyCar Series career
2 races run over 3 years
Team(s)Arrow McLaren
Best finish21st (2017)
First race2017 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Last race2020 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles
0 0 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years20182019
TeamsToyota
Best finish1st (2018, 2019)
Class wins2 (2018, 2019)
Signature
Fernando Alonso signature

Fernando Alonso Díaz (Spanish pronunciation: [feɾˈnando aˈlonso ˈði.aθ] ; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver, currently competing in Formula One for Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, and has won 32 Grands Prix across 21 seasons. In endurance racing, Alonso won the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota, and remains the only driver to have won both the World Drivers' Championship and the World Endurance/Sportscar Championship;[2][3] he also won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019 with WTR.

Born in Oviedo, Asturias to a working-class family, Alonso began kart racing aged three and achieved success in local, national, and world championships. He progressed to junior formulae aged 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. Alonso retired from Formula One at the end of 2018, but would return to the sport in 2021 with the newly organized Alpine F1 Team. 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.

As of the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, Alonso has achieved 32 race wins, 22 pole positions, 26 fastest laps and 106 podiums in Formula One. 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.

  1. ^ "Fernando Alonso signs to Aston Martin for 2023 on multi-year contract". formula1.com. 1 August 2022. Archived from the original on 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  2. ^ "Past Seasons - FIA World Endurance Championship". www.fiawec.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Standings". Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2023.