Fernando Alonso

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Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
F1 Record
Nationality	Spanish
Car #	1
Current team	Renault F1 Team (Until December 31st 2006)
Team for 2007	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Grands Prix	88
World Championships	2 (2005, 2006)
Wins	15
Podium finishes	37
Pole positions	15
Fastest laps	8
First Grand Prix	2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
Last win	2006 Japanese Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
2006 Championship position	1st (134 pts)
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Fernando Alonso Díaz (born on July 29, 1981 in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain) is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and reigning, two-time, world champion. He currently lives in Oxford, England, and owns a house near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. 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. He is nicknamed El Nano.^[1]

Contents 1 Personal and early life 2 Career 2.1 Pre-Formula One 2.2 Formula One 2.2.1 2001: Minardi 2.2.2 2002-2006: Renault 2.2.3 2007 Onwards: McLaren 3 Awards 4 Complete Formula One results 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] 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 dating Raquel del Rosario, the lead singer of the Spanish pop group El Sueño de Morfeo.

[edit] Career

[edit] Pre-Formula One

As a child, Alonso and his father, who also doubled as his mechanic, participated in karting competitions around Spain. His family lacked the economical resources needed to develop a career in motorsport, but his victories guaranteed sponsorships and the required funds. He won four Spanish Championships in the junior category, in 1993 (he was then 12 years old), 1994, 1995 and 1996. He also won the Junior World Cup in 1996. He won the Spanish and Italian Inter-A titles in 1997 and finished second of the European Championship in 1998, winning the Spanish Inter-A title again.

In 1999, Alonso made the jump to open-wheel cars, racing the Spanish Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan (his only season in the series) with the help of former Minardi F1 driver Adrián Campos. Then 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 fourth place in the drivers championship, and Alonso was off for Formula One in 2001.

[edit] Formula One

[edit] 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 mates Tarso Marques and Alex Yoong, and sometimes ahead of technically superior cars.

[edit] 2002-2006: Renault

Main article: Renault F1

2002-03

In 2002 his driving talents earned him a seat as test driver with the newly-founded Renault team, 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 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.

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 generally out-qualified by teammate Jarno Trulli. The situation would change towards the end of the year when Trulli suffered a lack of form, and 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 at Renault by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella. He finished third in the first race in Australia. For the second race of the season, in Malaysia, he qualified in 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 a 13-laps battle with the 7-time World Champion. 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 and finished 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 lap, 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.

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 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. 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, Alonso's 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 was the best driver of the 2005 season despite having the same number of victories (seven) as the Spaniard.^{[citation needed]} However, other commentators argue that Alonso fully deserved and earned the title, dominating the early part of the season and driving consistently in the later part, while McLaren and Räikkönen struggled with reliability problems.^{[citation needed]}

2006

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, having qualified fourth. 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 a good start. He won the Australian Grand Prix after overtaking leader Jenson Button's Honda.

After poor qualifying (by their past seasons' standards) for both Renaults at San Marino, Alonso was unable to pass Michael Schumacher in the race, a situation that reversed the previous year's San Marino Grand Prix. Alonso won pole ahead of Schumacher for the European Grand Prix, but the German overtook him during the second round of pit stops and he finished second. 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 penalised 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.^[2]

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. The 2006 Canadian Grand Prix was a new victory for him, and his fifth pole position in a row.

His run of good results ended at the United States Grand Prix, when he qualified fifth and finished the race in that position. Schumacher's victory meant Alonso's advantage over him in the championship was reduced from 25 points to 19. Schumacher won the French Grand Prix too, and Alonso finished second. He finished fifth in the German Grand Prix, with the Renault cars appearing not to be competitive in the race.

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,^[3] 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.^[4] Neither of them finished the race in points as both had mechanical problems. However, Schumacher was promoted to 8th place, claiming one point, after Robert Kubica was disqualified.

He was able to finish second in the Turkish Grand Prix ahead of Schumacher, who was unable to pass him during a 13-lap battle. This result gave him a 12-point 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,^[5] and he started the race from the 10th position. Renault reacted angrily to the penalty and Fernando Alonso described Formula One as "not a sport anymore".^[6] 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 achieved pole position during a wet qualifying session in which the Ferrari cars and Bridgestone tyres were not competitive. After a poor tyre choice in the second stint and a problematic pit stop that took 19 seconds, Alonso finished second to Schumacher. The result demoted Alonso to second place in the drivers championship; 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.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, Ferrari looked to be one step ahead of Renault after taking the first two grid positions in the qualifying session, more than half a second faster than the Renaults in fifth and sixth. However, during the race both performed similarly and Alonso ran 2nd, about 5 seconds behind Schumacher, for many laps. Then the latter suffered a mechanical problem (blown engine) and could not finish the race. Alonso won and recovered first place in the driver's championship, with a 10-point advantage over Schumacher and only one race remaining. This meant he only needed one more point to secure his second title, which came at the Brazilian Grand Prix on October 22, 2006. There, he finished second behind Felipe Massa's Ferrari. With Schumacher finishing fourth, the final advantage was 13 points and Alonso became the youngest double champion in the sport's history. Renault also clinched the Constructors' Championship with a 5-point lead over Ferrari.

He has yet to win the United States Grand Prix (where he has never finished on the podium), the Belgian Grand Prix or the Brazilian Grand Prix (where he has won the championship twice).

[edit] 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 raised doubts about 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. He will be partnered by Lewis Hamilton.

[edit] 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."^[7]

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."^[8]

Renault's F1 President Alain Dassas enthusiastically praised Alonso before the 2007 pre-season:

"I see McLaren as having the best driver. Unlike some people, I think that Fernando is even better than Michael Schumacher. If he ever returns to us, it will be in several years, and it will be a question of money - a lot of money!"^[9]

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)