Alonso signed forFerrari in2010, finishing runner-up toSebastian Vettel by four points in the third-placedF10. He took a single victory in2011 asRed Bull consolidated their advantage, before finishing runner-up to Vettel again in2012 and2013—the former by three points and the latter in the third-placedF138. After a winless2014 season amidst newengine regulations, Alonso returned to McLarenunder Honda power in2015. He remained with the team until the end of2018, resulting in limited success, before his first retirement. Alonso then moved intosportscar racing withToyota, winning theFIA World Endurance Championship, and the24 Hours of Le Mans twice. He returned to Formula One in2021 withAlpine, recording his first podium in seven years at theQatar Grand Prix, and breaking the record formost career starts in2022. Alonso moved toAston Martin for his2023 campaign, achieving several podiums as he finished fourth in the World Drivers' Championship; he scored his 100th career podium at theSaudi Arabian Grand Prix. In2024, he became the first driver to contest four-hundred Grands Prix.
Alonso was born on 29 July 1981 to a working-class family inOviedo,Asturias, Northern Spain.[2][3] He is the son of the mine shaft explosives factory mechanic and amateur kart driver José Luis Alonso,[3][4] and his wife,[4] the department store employee Ana Díaz.[2][5] Alonso has an elder sister, Lorena, who is a doctor.[5]
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).[6] 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 hisCurso de Orientación Universitaria (English: University Orientation Course) in 2000.[6] He was granted a permit to study away from school,[7] after he disobeyed his mother's orders and seldom attended classes.[8] He achieved a good academic performance by asking his classmates for notes and was unproblematic.[6][9]
The first go-kart driven by Alonso, which his elder sister did not want to drive
Alonso's father wanted a hobby to share with his children and built ago-kart for Lorena. She was uninterested in karting and a three-year-old Alonso received the kart.[2][4][10] The kart's pedals were modified for drive-ability,[3][7] and the local racing federation granted him a mandatorykart racing license aged five;[5] his father rejected an offer for his son to be agoalkeeper for theRC Celta de Vigo football club.[7][11] The family lacked the finances required to develop him in karts;[2] they could not purchaserain tyres and forced Alonso to adapt to a wet track onslick tyres.[12] Alonso devised three timing sectors going to school to improve himself daily.[13] His mother sewed his racing overalls and adjusted them as he grew;[14] she also ensured Alonso was academically well off.[2] His father steered the kart early on and was his accountant, counsellor, manager and mechanic.[14][15]
Aged seven, Alonso won his first kart race inPola de Laviana.[5][16] He won the 1988 and 1989 children's junior Championship of the Asturias and Galicia, and progressed to the Cadet class in 1990.[17][18] Go-kart importer Genís Marcó was impressed by Alonso and mentored him;[17] 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.[5][8][19] He spoke to the six-timeKarting World Champion Mike Wilson, who gave Alonso a test session at a track inParma.[17] Marcó taught Alonso to be conservative and maintain the condition of a kart.[20]
Alonso won the 1990 Asturias and the Basque Country Cadet Championship and finished second in the 1991 Spanish Cadet National Championship.[5] 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 inMóra d'Ebre, Marcó asked Alonso if he wanted to enter the Spanish Karting Championship.[19] Wilson mentored Alonso; he joined theItalian American Motor Engineering works team in 1993.[17] Alonso won three successive Spanish Junior National Championships from 1993 to 1995.[18]
The results allowed him to progress to the world championships.[5] Alonso was third at the 1995Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK-FIA) Cadets' Rainbow Trophy.[17] Alonso was a mechanic to younger kart drivers to earn money.[7] He won his fourth Spanish Junior Karting Championship, the Trofeo Estival, the Marlboro Masters,[18] and the CIK-FIA 5 Continents Juniors Cup at theKarting Genk in 1996.[17] In 1997, he took the Italian and Spanish International A championships and was second in the European Championship with nine wins, theMasters Karting Paris Bercy and the Spanish Karting Championship.[5][18]
Cesare Fiorio, the sports director, gave Alonso a test in aFormula One (F1) car at theCircuito de Jerez in December 1999, as part of the Euro Open by Nissan's organising company RPM's agreement to give its series champion an opportunity to test at a higher level.[23] He was Minardi's test and reserve driver in2000 before joining its race team in2001.[2] In a non-competitive car,[24] Alonso's best result of the season was a tenth-place finish in theGerman Grand Prix and scored nopoints for 23rd overall.[10]
He remained with Renault for2004.[30] Alonso had an improved season: he finished the season-openingAustralian Grand Prix in third position and took three more podium finishes that year. He took pole position for theFrench Grand Prix but achieved no race victories en route to fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 59 points.[10] Alonso stayed at Renault for2005.[2] He duelled withMcLaren driverKimi Räikkönen for the World Championship in 2005 due to regulation changes prohibiting teams from changing tyres during a race and requiring engines to last for two races before they could be changed. Alonso's car was more reliable than Räikkönen's albeit lacking in speed.[31] Alonso eclipsedEmerson Fittipaldi as the youngest World Drivers' Champion, having won seven victories, six pole positions and fourteen podium finishes for 133 points altogether.[2][10][31]
He signed a contract extension with Renault for2006 in April 2005.[32] Bookmakers installed Alonso as the favourite to retain the Drivers' Championship.[33] His primary competition was Ferrari driverMichael Schumacher.[2][34] 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.[10][27] AnFédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; F1's governing body)-imposed ban on Renault'stuned mass damper device to slow Alonso and an increase of development into Schumacher's Ferrari for competitiveness saw the two tied on points entering the season's penultimate round, theJapanese Grand Prix.[2][34] Alonso won the race as Schumacher retired due to an engine failure whilst leading.[34] He needed to score one point at the season-endingBrazilian Grand Prix for a second title.[35] Alonso won the championship by finishing second and was Formula 1's youngest double World Champion.[c][29]
He and McLaren team ownerRon Dennis met secretly in Japan after Dennis talked to Alonso about driving for the team in the future and Alonso expressed interest in the idea. Both men agreed to a three-year contract for Alonso to drive for McLaren starting from2007.[36][37] Alonso's contract with Renault expired on 31 December 2006, and he was not granted an early release for sponsorship reasons.[38] Renault allowed Alonso to make his first appearance for McLaren in a test session at theCircuito de Jerez in November 2006.[38][39] His main competitors in 2007 were his teammateLewis Hamilton and Räikkönen at Ferrari. Alonso achieved four Grand Prix victories inMalaysia,Monaco,Europe andItaly and led the championship until Hamilton overtook him.[40] Prior to the season's final round, theBrazilian Grand Prix, he had 103 championship points to Räikkönen's 100 and Hamilton's 107, and needed to win the race and for his teammate to finish third or lower for his third title.[41] Alonso finished the event third for third overall with 109 points. He had the same number of points as Hamilton; the tie was broken on count-back as Hamilton finished second more often than Alonso.[10][42]
Throughout the season, Alonso and Hamilton were involved in a number of incidents, such as theespionage scandal and the flare-up during qualifying for theHungarian Grand Prix when Hamilton disobeyed a team instruction, thus disadvantaging Alonso, and Alonso responded by delaying Hamilton in the pit lane.[37][43] The tensions culminated in Alonso and McLaren terminating their contract by mutual consent in November.[43][44] Alonso was forbidden from joining a team whom McLaren considered their primary challengers for2008.[45] After rejecting offers from several teams,[46] he signed a two-year contract to rejoin Renault from 2008 because of the manufacturer's long-term commitment to F1 and on-track record.[47][48] Alonso's car lacked power early on due to an imposed moratorium in development and he scored nine points in the first seven races.[27][49] He was thereafter able to improve his performance later due to aerodynamic developments to the car's and won inSingapore andJapan;[27] the former race saw Renault order his teammateNelson Piquet Jr. to crash deliberately and trigger the deployment of thesafety car in what became known as "crashgate".[10] Alonso scored more points than any other driver in the final five races with 43.[49][50] He scored 61 points for fifth in the Drivers' Championship.[10]
Alonso was due to become a free agent for2009 if Renault were lower than third in theConstructors' Championship.[51] After offers fromRed Bull Racing andHonda,[51][52] he re-signed to Renault on a two-year contract.[53] His car proved to be noncompetitive because it lacked a dual diffuser system and outright speed.[27][54] Alonso eschewed an aerodynamic front wing mandated in an attempt to make overtaking more possible since he did not believe it would help him.[10] He scored points in eight races and achieved one podium finish: a third place at theSingapore Grand Prix.[55] Alonso won pole position for theHungarian Grand Prix and led the first twelve laps before he retired following an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel.[56] Alonso was ninth in the Drivers' Championship with 26 points,[10] his lowest placing since he came sixth in 2003;[55] he maintained his reputation as one of F1's best drivers.[10]
Alonso agreed with Ferrari presidentLuca Cordero di Montezemolo to drive for Ferrari in 2009, but team principalJean Todt extended the contracts of bothFelipe Massa and Räikkönen to2010.[57] Alonso obtained a mid-2009 agreement to drive for Ferrari from2011 on but it was moved to 2010 after Renault were investigated for race fixing in Singapore and Räikkönen was released from the team.[55][58] McLaren's Hamilton and Button and Red Bull's ofSebastian Vettel andMark Webber were Alonso's main championship competition.[59] He won five races that season and entered the season-endingAbu Dhabi Grand Prix leading by eight points after being 47 behind mid-season following errors. Alonso finished runner-up to Vettel after finishing seventh thereby losing nineteen points to Vettel who won the race.[60]
His 2011 season was mixed: his car was built conservatively and lacked aerodynamic grip and tyre handling in qualifying.[61] He extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win theBritish Grand Prix after a strategy error from Red Bull. His best qualification of the year was a second at theCanadian Grand Prix and he out-qualified his teammate Massa fifteen times over the course of the season. 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-endingBrazilian Grand Prix.[10][62]
Ahead of2012, Alonso extended his contract with Ferrari until2016.[63] His main competition for the title in 2012 was Vettel.[64] Wins inMalaysia,Valencia andGermany and consistent points-scoring finishes allowed him to build a 40-point lead in the Drivers' Championship. Thereafter start-line collisions, a mechanical failure and an improved performance for Vettel eliminated Alonso's points lead.[10][65][66] Alonso entered the season-endingBrazilian Grand Prix 13 points behind Vettel and needed to finish third and for Vettel not to score points for a third championship.[64] He 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.[10][66]
To begin2013, Alonso drove an aggressively designed car allowing him to win inChina andSpain and consistently scored points.[10][67] He was slower than Vettel after a change of tyre compound at theGerman Grand Prix and front and rear bodywork components intended to improve his car's performance were ineffective.[67][68] With 242 points, Alonso was second for the third time in his career.[10] His relationship with Ferrari cooled due to his perception the team could not construct a title-winning car.[69]
Alonso's 2014 season saw him achieve no race wins because his car was less powerful than the championship-winningMercedes but took third in theChinese Grand Prix and second in theHungarian Grand Prix. Alonso fell to sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 161 points.[10][27] He qualified faster than his teammate Räikkönen sixteen times by an average of more than1⁄2 second per lap in 2014.[69]
Return to McLaren (2015–2019)
Alonso had severe disagreements with team principalMarco Mattiacci in 2014 and left Ferrari after contract negotiations to remain at the team fell through.[69] He rejoined McLaren on a three-year contract from2015 to2017 with no opt-out clauses.[70] An accident during a pre-season test session at Spain'sCircuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February 2015 saw Alonso sustain a concussion and he was replaced by reserve driverKevin Magnussen for the season-openingAustralian Grand Prix.[71] He endured a difficult season: his car'sHonda engine was under-powered and overall speed leaving him vulnerable to being passed.[72] Alonso scored points twice in 2015: a tenth in theBritish Grand Prix and a fifth in theHungarian Grand Prix for seventeenth in the Drivers' Championship with eleven points.[10] He was dissatisfied with a slow pace, which became evident after multiple radio complaints that year.[73][74]
Despite the unreliable and noncompetitive car,[75] Alonso remained with McLaren for2016.[76] Injuries from a heavy crash withEsteban Gutiérrez at the season-openingAustralian Grand Prix caused him to miss theBahrain Grand Prix on medical grounds and was replaced by reserve driverStoffel Vandoorne.[77] He qualified better than teammate Button fifteen times and scored points nine times, which included two fifth-place finishes in theMonaco Grand Prix and theUnited States Grand Prix. He was tenth in the Drivers' Championship with 54 points.[10]
Alonso stayed at McLaren in2017,[78] but poor reliability affected his season, particularly during the early rounds, and his best finish was a sixth place in theHungarian Grand Prix. After three consecutive top-ten finishes, Alonso finished fifteenth in the Drivers' Championship with seventeen points.[10]
Following contract negotiations with the McLaren CEOZak Brown,[79] Alonso signed a multi-year extension with McLaren on 19 October 2017.[80] He finished fifth at the season-opening 2018Australian Grand Prix and took nine top-ten finishes.[10] Alonso out-qualified his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne at every race and drove quickly and aggressively. He became increasingly annoyed with certain drivers and his commitment to F1 waned after McLaren stopped developing their car to focus on2019.[81][82] Alonso was eleventh in the Drivers' Championship with fifty points,[10] 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.[83]
He remained at McLaren as a brand ambassador to aid and advise drivers and drove in select test sessions to develop their cars. Alonso drove theMCL34 during a two-day in-season post-race Bahrain test in April 2019 to develop tyres for Pirelli.[84] No further runs were planned for him and McLaren focused on their current drivers.[85] Alonso's ambassador contract with McLaren expired at the end of 2019, and was not renewed for 2020.[86]
Alonso was signed to drive forAlpine F1 Team for the2021 season,[87] alongsideEsteban Ocon, with Renault having rebranded the team under its new name. In preparation for his F1 return, Alonso performed four testing days driving theRenault R.S.18 and was quickest in the post-2020 season young driver's test driving theRenault R.S.20 for Renault.[88][89] In his first race with Alpine at the2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso was forced to retire after plastic debris entered his brake duct.[90] At the2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix he finished in eleventh after qualifying fifteenth,[91] with teammate Ocon finishing ahead in tenth, but both were upgraded one position afterKimi Räikkönen was penalised, giving Alonso his first points of the season.[92]
InHungary, Alonso temporarily led the race before he made a pit stop and fell to fourth, ahead ofLewis Hamilton. Teammate Ocon credited Alonso's defence against Hamilton with enabling him to achieve his first race victory.[93] In August 2021, Alonso invoked an option to extend his contract for the2022 season.[94] Alonso scored points in multiple races following the summer break, finishing sixth in theNetherlands,[95] eighth inItaly,[96] sixth inRussia, having run in third in Russia before being forced to pit under wet conditions,[97] and third inQatar.[10] His third place finish atQatar was his first podium finish since the2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.
For the2022 season, Alonso remained with Alpine.[98] Alonso achieved his highest start driving for Alpine during wet qualifying for theCanadian Grand Prix, starting in second, but had to endure questionable strategies and an engine issue that developed during the race. He dropped down to seventh, and furthermore, received a post-race time penalty that dropped him down to ninth.[99]
Alonso joinedAston Martin on a multi-year deal in2023 alongsideLance Stroll.[100] He joined the team because he wanted a multi-year contract extension, and Alpine was only willing to give him one more year in F1.[101]
On his Aston Martin debut at the2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso, benefitting from the much-improved machinery of theAston Martin AMR23, recovered from a first-lap contact with his teammateLance Stroll without any damage and went on to finish in third place, securing a podium finish and Aston's first sinceSebastian Vettel's podium at the2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (the German would finish second at the2021 Hungarian Grand Prix but would be disqualified due to insufficient fuel sample).[102] Despite having to serve a penalty due to his car being off-position at the starting grid, he finished in third again at the following race at the2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix; this marked his 100th podium, making him the sixth driver to have scored one-hundred podiums in his career. Following the race, he was issued another ten-second penalty due to serving the first one improperly at his pit stop, dropping him to fourth behindGeorge Russell;[103] however, the team's appeal was accepted and the second penalty was reversed, keeping his podium.[104]
Alonso finished in third once again after a chaoticAustralian Grand Prix; the third and final restart of the session saw his car make contact with the Ferrari ofCarlos Sainz Jr., causing the latter driver to receive a five-second penalty; due to this, Sainz would be classified in last place out of the finishing cars. Alonso's car was undamaged.[105] Alonso agreed with Sainz's criticisms of the penalty, stating that it was "too harsh".[106] The Aston Martins were plagued withDRS issues during qualification of theAzerbaijan Grand Prix, going on to qualify eighth in the new "sprint shootout" qualification[107] and sixth for the main qualification session;[108] he would finish sixth in the sprint race,[109] and fourth in the main race.[110] It was at this point in time the car had dropped in performance, failing to secure podiums on a consistent basis, though he took two podium finishes atZandvoort,[111] where he recorded his first fastest lap since the2017 Hungarian Grand Prix,[112] andSão Paulo; the latter instance edging outSergio Pérez by 0.053 seconds.[113] After a seventh-place finish at theAbu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso ended the season fourth in the standings, scoring 206 points against his teammate Stroll's 74. Alonso's fourth position in the standings was his highest finish since2013.
At the2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, Alonso competed in his four-hundredth Grand Prix weekend, becoming the first driver to reach this number of races.[114]
Endurance racing
Alonso made his sports car endurance racing debut at the 1999 24 Hours of Barcelona. Paired withAntonio García, Salvi Delmuns and the journalist Pedro Fermín Flores, the quartet finished third in the M10 class and tenth overall in aHyundai Accent.[115] Alonso was due to enter the2015 24 Hours of Le Mans withPorsche'sLe Mans Prototype 1 team before Honda blocked it.[116]
Alonso drove a 2018 TS050 Hybrid in a three-day test session at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón in February and drove with no artificial lights in a 24-hour kart race as preparation.[126][127] He, Buemi and Nakajima won the LMP1 Drivers' Championship with five victories including the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans and the2019 24 Hours of Le Mans over the eight round season, though this was enhanced by their teammatesMike Conway,Kamui Kobayashi andJosé María López suffering a sensor issue while leading the2019 6 Hours of Spa and then suffering a puncture while comfortably leading the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans with an hour remaining.[10][128][129][130][131] Alonso left the series at the end of the season.[132]
Before the2017 Australian Grand Prix, Zak Brown said to Alonso they should enter the2017 Indianapolis 500 to which Alonso suggested he was joking. The idea later re-emerged in a conversation in Los Angeles, when Alonso told Brown he was happy with the idea since McLaren had won it before. He and his manager Garcia Abad met Brown and Éric Boullier in China to talk more about the plan and said he would decide the next day. Alonso told Brown he wanted to race at Indianapolis and told him it was "a good decision for everyone: a win, win for myself, for F1, the fans, everyone'."[133] Brown then spoke to theIndyCar Series chief executive officer Mark Miles and discovered that there were no Honda-powered cars.[134] Miles met theAndretti Autosport ownerMichael Andretti, who got driverStefan Wilson to agree to forego his planned entry in partnership withMichael Shank Racing and allow Alonso to drive instead.[135]
Driving the No. 29 McLaren-Honda-AndrettiDallara DW12,[136] he completed a three-stage rookie orientation programme at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway on 3 May.[e][138] Alonso advanced to the Fast Nine shootout in qualifying and set the fifth-fastest four-lap average speed;[139] in the race, he led four times for a total of 27 laps before his engine failed with 21 laps to go.[139] Alonso was classified 24th.[140]
McLaren began planning an entry for him in the2019 IndyCar Series in August 2018 and would be supported by the series.[141] Alonso tested a 2018-specification Andretti Autosport-entered Dallara DW12-Honda at theBarber Motorsports Park on 5 September.[142] McLaren opted to enter just the2019 Indianapolis 500 due to its focus on Formula One and collaborated withCarlin Motorsport in a logistical and technical partnership and signed an engine supply deal withChevrolet.[143] 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.Andy Brown was Alonso's race engineer and his chief mechanic was Liam Dance.[144] Alonso did not qualify afterJuncos Racing'sKyle Kaiser demoted him to 34th.[f] Reasons included a dismantled spare car needed to assembled and flown from Carlin's factory after Alonso crashed in practice. An error converting from theAmerican imperial system to theBritish metric system caused his car to scrape along the tarmac surface and incorrect gear ratios slowed him.[146]
Arrow McLaren SP (2020)
He entered the2020 Indianapolis 500 withArrow McLaren SP after an agreement with Andretti Autosports fell through.[147]Alonso had a crash during practice. He qualified 26th.[148]Alonso did manage to finish the race. He started 26th, was running fifteenth halfway through the race, and then ended up 21st and one lap down because of a clutch issue causing the team to manually start the car during every pit stop.[149]
Off-road racing
Alonso entered theDakar Rally with Toyota in2020 following a five-month testing programme in Africa, Europe and the Middle East and driving a series of races to better himself.[150][151] He raced in the Lichtenburg 400 in South Africa, theRally du Maroc in Morocco and the Al Ula–Neom Rally in Saudi Arabia,[152] with the five-time Dakar Rally bike class winnerMarc Coma his co-driver. Alonso was third at the Al Ula-Neom Rally, which was his highest finish in three preparation events.[153] With co-driver Coma, he finished the Dakar in thirteenth position with a best stage finish of second place.[154] A stop for repairs on the second stage and a roll on the tenth lost him several hours in the general classification.[155]
Driving style
The essence of his qualities is that he is very complete. You struggle to find a weak point, basically, in terms of high-level skills. The technical preparation in terms of driving. The ability to cope with a variety of situations. Intelligence - just [the] capacity to understand the situation while he is in or out of the car. Commitment... it is so difficult for Fernando to accept he is slower than someone else. It is very essential to his nature[,] which potentially might have created problems when he was not mature enough to manage this fundamental aspect of his identity... I have seen this withMichael [Schumacher]... This aspect of Fernando is certainly not less than Michael, but it expresses itself in different ways.
Alonso's race engineer atFerrari,Andrea Stella, on Alonso's ability and similarities to Michael Schumacher[156]
Alonso is often regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers in the history of the sport.[157] Journalists and fellow drivers regarded Alonso as a fast and consistent driver who can extract additional pace from a car in all weathers and on all tracks.[156][158] Fisichella said Alonso understands when to go faster and when to preserve his tyres in a race.[158] Former racing driver andSky Sports punditMartin Brundle described Alonso as "Senna-like in his intimate feel for where the grip is" and cited the driver's knowledge on how much grip to use for the entry to a turn.[158] He drives aggressively and uses a braking area to put a car into a corner without losing speed exiting it. This allows Alonso to keep it "on the edge of adhesion" and it has been observed during a qualifying session and the first laps of a race.[13] 1979 world championJody Scheckter has criticised Alonso for causing problems in teams.[clarification needed][159] This opinion is shared byChristian Horner, who ruled out signing Alonso for Red Bull, as he caused chaos in previous teams.[160]
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.[161] Alonso is an all-round driver who can mount an apex and correct a sliding car to go faster.[162] He is careful in finding the ideal feeling with his brakes and can apply the maximum amount of force with a fast response time. Alonso's physical strength contrasts his braking skill and regularly exceeded that limit without overdoing it on multiple conditions.[163] According to Jonathan Noble ofMotorsport.com, this allows Alonso to "create a kind of naturalABS – fully exploiting tyre grip to achieve greater speeds while turning without locking the wheels."[163]
Alonso's helmet manufactured by Bieffe (2001),Arai (2003–2009, 2016),Schuberth (2010–2015)[164][165]Bell (2017–)[166] sports the yellow and red colours of theflag of Spain with shades of blue from the Asturias flag and coupled with two silver thunderbolt arrows derived from a remote control car he received as a present in his childhood on top and a yellow Asturian cross (sometimes on the back, other times on the side).[167] He 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.[168]
The racing helmet Alonso wore at the2013 Indian Grand Prix to commemorate him scoring 1571 career points
For three successive Monaco Grand Prix from 2011 to 2013 and at the2011 Singapore Grand Prix, he wore a gold and white coloured helmet to replace the blue and yellow.[169][170] At the following2013 Indian Grand Prix, Alonso sported a white helmet to celebrate his total number of career points scored up to the precedingJapanese Grand Prix of 1571 and with the words "F1 points World Record" accompanied with a thank you message in English, French and Italian.[171]
His final event for Ferrari at the2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw him wear a helmet with a picture depicting a pit stop in that year in the colour red, signature of various team members and the flag of Italy in the centre.[172] At the 2017 Indianapolis 500 and the2017 United States Grand Prix, Alonso sported a black helmet with red, yellow and blue stripes around it and his race number.[173][174] He revised the livery for the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona to white instead of black and had no stripes around the front. The back had the layout of theDaytona International Speedway and continued to have his usual blue, red and yellow colours.[173]
In 2018 Alonso changed its front livery to be predominantly blue with the back top lighter blue and the rear red and yellow.[175] His helmet for the2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was divided equally between the flag of Spain on the right with a blue-checkered pattern around its side. The yellow on that area was replaced by gold between two horizontal stripes in red and a thick vertical strip was added with a list of Alonso's 32 F1 race victories.[176]
For the 2014 season, the FIA created a new regulation allowing drivers to select specific car numbers for use throughout their F1 career. 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.[177]
Nate Saunders ofESPN writes that Alonso "is one of the most eloquent speakers in F1 and one of the best at interacting with the media".[179] He 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.[179] Alonso dislikes fame and prefers a private life,[180] with Chris Jenkins ofUSA Today describing him as shy.[3] He has been noted for refraining from expensive habits and possessions.[181]
Alonso at the 2015 Honda Racing Thanks Day
Alonso's public persona has been noted as being different from his private personality.[182] Fellow Spanish driverCarlos Sainz Jr. claimed "there are two Fernandos", alluding to Alonso's defensive nature when criticised because of his shyness, compared to his sense of humour, generosity and kind-nature when not racing.[182] According to theAutosport journalist Ben Anderson, Alonso's success in F1 required him to behave egotistically and selfishly and to have a self-confidence, in order to cope with the consequences of "burst[ing] egotistical bubbles" to improve himself.[182] Alonso acknowledged the façade 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.[182] Alonso made a voicecameo appearance as ananthropomorphic version of himself in the Spanish dub ofCars 2 (2011),[183] and a voice command assistant in the Spanish dub ofCars 3 (2017).[184]
JournalistNigel Roebuck calls Alonso "the first world-class racing driver to come out of Spain",[180] and is credited for popularising F1 in the country, where it was once considered a fringe sport and a lesser known form of motorsport than motorcycling and rallying.[185] He was Personality Media's favourite male athlete with a 99 per cent recognition rating amongst the Spanish public in 2015;[186] in the latter part of his F1 career, Alonso was within the top two most popular drivers in theGrand Prix Drivers' Association fan surveys of 2010, 2015 and 2017.[187]
TheFernando Alonso Sports Complex in Oviedo was opened in June 2015 and features a CIK-FIA compliant karting track featuring 29 layouts. A museum dedicated to his racing career, the 'Museo y Circuito Fernando Alonso', opened in the same year, featuring Alonso's race cars, helmets, overalls, and memorabilia.[188]
Endorsements and philanthropy
Alonso wearing a Kimoa hat at aNASCAR media tour in 2018
Alonso has done business withBanco Santander,Cajastur,TAG Heuer,Europcar,Silestone,[189]Liberbank,[190]ING,[191]Chandon,[192]Adidas,[193] andBang & Olufsen.[194] He is the founder and brand ambassador of the fashion retailer Kimoa,[195] and intended to establish the Fernando Alonso Cycling Team to compete inUCI events in 2015 before the project failed to materialise.[g][196] As a result of Alonso's endorsement money and F1 salary, he has been listed as one of theworld's highest-paid athletes byForbes every year from 2012 to 2018.[197] The magazine named him motorsport's top-earning driver from June 2012 to June 2013,[198] one of 2016's top earning international stars,[199] and one of 2017's highest-paid international and European celebrities.[200][201] Alonso also featured on theForbes Celebrity 100 list in 2008 and 2017.[202] In 2020, Alonso was sponsored by Ruoff Mortgage for his Indianapolis 500 attempt.[203]
Alonso was appointed director of theGrand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) along with Mark Webber and Ralf Schumacher. He held that post from 2006 to 2010.
In November 2017 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.[204] The team dissolved in 2018 and launched another in partnership with FA Racing and Veloce Esports in March 2019.[205] Alonso's team has also competed in theF4 Spanish Championship,Formula Renault Eurocup and karting.[206] He is an investor and board member of the eSports multi-racing platformMotorsport Games.[207]
He was named the 2006 Autosport International Racing Driver of the Year.[216] Alonso was voted theIndianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year for his performance in the 2017 Indianapolis 500.[140] He was inducted into theFIA Hall of Fame in 2017 for being a F1 World Champion and again as a FIA World Endurance Champion in 2019.[217][218] This made Alonso the first driver to have been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame twice.[218]
^Gião filed an appeal under the belief Alonso had passed him underyellow flag conditions. The appeal was rejected because Gião had filed it through his manager and not his team; officials subsequently confirmed Alonso's championship win.[21]
^abSebastian Vettel is the current holder of the youngest Formula One pole position starter and youngest one and two-time world champion.[29]
^More than two million watched a livestream of the rookie orientation programme on social media.[137]
^McLaren offered to purchase theArrow Schmidt Peterson car ofOriol Servià to allow Alonso to enter the race and meet sponsorship obligations since the two teams were in a partnership. Alonso was against replacing a driver who had qualified and McLaren opted against doing so.[145]
^The leakedParadise Papers stated Alonso's manager Luis García Abad founded and constituted the Revolution Holdings Limited for the team on the Mediterranean island ofMalta. Documents released to the Spanish media revealed theDirectorate-General for the Treasury knew about its existence and accounts.[196]
^Lara, Ángela (28 September 2005)."Un chico de barrio" [A neighborhood boy].Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). p. 38.Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved29 December 2019.
^Balseiro, Jesús (7 July 2020)."Alonso está de vuelta" [Alonso is back].Diario AS (in Spanish).Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved28 July 2020.
^abcBenson, Andrew (September 2012)."Alonso: F1's fastest driver?"(PDF).F1 Racing (199):46–53.Archived(PDF) from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved26 November 2019.
^"Otro más para la estantería" [Another one for the bookshelf]. ESPN. EFE. 29 September 2004.Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved28 December 2019.
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