Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso Díaz (born 29th July, 1981 in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who is also currently the team principal of the Fernando Alonso Speed Team. He is the 2005 Formula One World Champion.

Fernando Alonso, after winning the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix and the 2005 World Championship.

Formula One

2001-2005: Benetton Arrows, Renault

Alonso's Formula One debut came in 2001at the hands of the Benetton Arrows team alongside fellow young gun Jenson Button. Despite the pair's enthusiasm and hunger, the Arrows failed to match their young driver's desires in their final season and Alonso was only able to take a single point all season.

Alonso and Button remained together in 2002, albeit with a new outfit following the rebranding of Arrows to Renault. Alonso began to get comfortable in his new environment, taking several points finishes in the early stages of the season - his best being a pair of fourth places in Austria and Canada. Alonso would also upset the timing sheets by taking an unexpected fastest lap on the streets of Monte-Carlo on his way to sixth. Fernando Alonso would finish his sophomore season in F1 in a much improved seventh position in the WDC.

Button would vacate the team following a bust-up with team principal Flavio Briatore in the 2003 off-season, meaning Alonso would be joined by ex-Jaguar driver Mark Webber. Alonso's season got off to a great start, taking a career best second position (and another fastest lap) in the opening race of the season in Australia behind McLaren's James James Davies. He'd follow this with a third place finish in Malaysian Grand Prix. Alonso would not taste the champagne on the podium for several races, before returning with a third at the European Grand Prix and following Webber home for Renault's first 1-2 finish at the German Grand Prix. Alonso would miss Italy due to the Michelin boycott, before returning to the podium in Brazil with a second place. The Spaniard would go one better in the United States Grand Prix, converting a career-first pole into a win. He'd follow this win up with another in the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix, a race in which Alonso had a long battle with Michael Schumacher.

Alonso struggled in the shortened 2004 season, with the dominating Ferrari team effectively cleaning up for most of the year. Alonso did manage one win in 2004, winning the United States Grand Prix for a second time on his way to eighth in the championship.

2005 saw Alonso be joined by young Finn Kimi Räikkönen in what was set to be the most wide-open championship in many years, with Renault, McLaren, Ferrari, Williams and Toyota all bringing very strong packages. Alonso's first win of the season came in his home country of Spain, but he'd not win another until Brazil some twelve races later. The lead of the championship switched almost race by race - with Alonso, Räikkönen, James James Davies, Rubens Barrichello and Daniel Melrose all heading into the final round in China. The lead switched often in this frantic race but eventually Alonso capitalised on a last-lap error from Kimi Räikkönen to secure Alonso his first and only F1 World Driver's Championship, with some pundits in the Spanish media dubbing the race El Milagro de Shanghai.

2006-2008: Honda

Mere weeks after securing the World Championship, Alonso was revealed as Honda's lead driver alongside Takuma Sato in their first season as an outright manufacturer since taking over the BAR team. Although no figures were released, it is believed that Alonso's four year deal made him the highest paid driver in Formula One at the time. Unfortunately for Alonso he was not able to challenge for a repeat, as the RA106, whilst a competitive car and a significant improvement over the last BAR car, was not capable of challenging for wins on merit. Alonso's best result was a second place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Initial testing for the 2007 season was not looking particularly promising either - with some within the Honda setup refering to the RA107 as a "dud". The car was launched as the carbon-neutral 'Honda Earth Car' - with the team revealing Australian Frank Zimmer as the second driver alongside Alonso. As predicted, Alonso and the team had a huge drop in form and ended up finishing the year in thirteenth with only a handful of points finishes.

Alonso's 2008 wasn't much better - his only real highlight being a third place in the attrition-hit United States Grand Prix. Alonso finished the season in thirteenth once again, with little hope going into the final year of his contract.

2009-2011: Ferrari

Honda pulling out of the sport at the end of the season meant that the team's future was in jeopardy, and despite a management buyout led by Ross Brawn saving the team at the eleventh hour, there was still a shortage of cash. To fix this, Alonso's contract was sold to Ferrari, where he would move to partner Pole Robert Kubica. Although the F60 was not a particularly strong car at the start of the year, it improved enough for Alonso to take 2 victories and finish 6th in that year's standings, easily having the measure of Kubica.

The pairing were retained for 2010, Alonso having agreed a new 3-year deal with the team. Both drivers would be frontrunners for the year, but were unable to truly contend for the championship. Alonso still had the edge over Kubica, although the Pole was much closer to him than the previous year. Alonso finished 3rd in the championship with 5 victories.

Alonso's third year at the team came in 2011, remaining alongside Kubica. This time Kubica would manage to overhaul Alonso, the Pole leading the standings all season to take his first world championship, while Alonso would have a messy year, getting involved in multiple incidents, earning himself a 2 race ban and eventually being sacked from Ferrari at the European Grand Prix and being replaced by 2003 World Champion Rhys Davies.

2012: Renault

Alonso would initially be left out of a drive in 2012, before getting a call up to his former team Renault, with whom he had won in 2005, to replace the Ferrari-bound Alexandre-Laurent Voeckler. Alonso would take a podium on his return to the sport at the British Grand Prix, and despite the Renault R31 (being the same car the team had run the year before) being off the pace, the Spaniard would fairly consistently score points on his way to 16th in the championship, his efforts helping to gift Renault 7th in the constructor's.

2014-2015: Williams

Despite his relatively good half season with Renault, Alonso would not be given a drive in 2013. The Spaniard had to wait until 2014 to reappear on the F1 grid, this time at the Williams team alongside Nico Rosberg. Both drivers would take advantage of the new regulations to compete with Brabham driver and eventual champion James James Davies for the title. Alonso won 5 times on his way to 3rd in the championship, just behind his teammate.

The pair would remain at the team going into 2015. Alonso would be regulated to a clear second best behind his teammate Rosberg, who fought with Australian Daniel Ricciardo for the title, ultimately losing by just 5 and a half points. Alonso would finish 3rd in the championship again, this time with 6 victories, including at his home race in Spain.

2016-2017: Red Bull

Neither driver were retained for 2016, with Alonso choosing to move to Austrian outfit Red Bull to partner Alex Lynn. Although Red Bull were no longer a championship-contending team, Alonso performed well, scoring 2 victories on his way to 7th in the championship, easily beating his teammate who was dismissed from the team before season's end.

Remaining at the team in 2017 to be partnered alongside Red Bull junior driver Pierre Gasly, Alonso embarked on what would ultimately be his final season in Formula One. The Red Bull RB13 however turned out to be a complete flop, with Alonso scoring the team's only podium of the year at the Japanese Grand Prix, both drivers otherwise struggling to get into the points all year. Alonso ended the year in 20th place with 41 points, and announced his retirement from full-time F1 racing.

2018-present: subsitute and team owner

Alonso was nominated as the reserve driver for the Williams team in 2018 and made a surprise return to the sport at the German Grand Prix as a temporary replacement for Valtteri Bottas, finishing 5th in the only race weekend he would participate in.

Alonso would then form the Fernando Alonso Speed Team, which entered the sport in 2019. FAST would finish 7th in their first year of competition, a position that was repeated in 2020.

Complete Formula One Grand Prix results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	WDC	Points
2001	Mild Seven Benetton Arrows	Arrows A22	Renault RS21 3.0 V10	AUS 8	MAL 10	BRA 12	SMR Ret	ESP 10	AUT 6	MON Ret	CAN 10	EUR 14	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL DNS	ITA 9	USA Ret	JPN Ret																						16th	1
2002	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault R202	Renault RS22 3.0 V10	AUS 7	MAL 7	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	AUT 4	MON 6	CAN 4	EUR 6	FRA Ret	GBR 5	GER 6	HUN 5	BEL 6	ITA Ret	BRA 7	USA 6	JPN 5																						7th	17
2003	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault R23	Renault RS23 3.0 V10	AUS 2	MAL 3	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	AUT 7	MON Ret	CAN 6	GBR 5	EUR 3	GER 2	HUN Ret	ITA DNA	BEL 11	BRA 2	USA 1	JPN 1																							4th	65
2004	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault R24	Renault RS24 3.0 V10	AUS 8	MAL 9	BHR Ret	MON 8	CAN Ret	USA 1	CHN Ret	BRA 3	ARG Ret	KOR C	JPN Ret																												8th	18
2005	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault R25	Renault RS25 3.0 V10	AUS 3	MAL 5	BHR 4	SMR 3	ESP 1	MON Ret	EUR Ret	CAN 2	USA DNS	FRA 6	GBR 2	GER 7	HUN 7	TUR 5	ITA 3	BEL Ret	BRA 1	URU 2	JPN Ret	CHN 1																			1st	92
2006	Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda RA106	Honda RA806E 2.4 V8	BHR 4	MAL 4	AUS Ret	BEL 5	EUR 6	SMR 9	MON 4	ESP 3	GBR 9	CAN 3	USA Ret	FRA 6	GER 4	HUN 2	TUR 4	ITA Ret	BRA DNS	URU 10	JPN 10	CHN 7																			6th	57
2007	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda RA107	Honda RA807E 2.4 V8	BHR 8	MAL 11	AUS Ret	JPN 13	SMR 14	GER 7	ESP 5	MON Ret	CAN 14	USA 12	GBR 10	EUR Ret	FRA Ret	HUN 14	TUR 8	ITA 16	BEL 10	CHN 7	URU 10	BRA 10																			13th	10
2008	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda RA108	Honda RA808E 2.4 V8	BHR 7	MAL Ret	AUS 6	JPN 12	TUR 12	EUR 10	MON 9	CAN 11	USA 3	FRA 13	GBR 9	GER 7	HUN 7	ESP 14	BEL Ret	ITA 13	SIN 14	CHN Ret	URU 10	BRA 7																			13th	17
2009	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F60	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	BHR Ret	AUS 7	MAL‡ 8	USA Ret	JPN 16	ESP Ret	TUR 18†	EUR Ret	MON 4	GBR 15	IRE 1	GER 1	BEL Ret	ITA 5	HUN 5	SIN 2	CHN 3	BRA 10	URU Ret	ABU 5																			5th	54.5
2010	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F10	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	BHR 1 2	BHR 2 2	USA 1 5	USA 2 1	JPN 1 2	JPN 2 Ret	AUS 1 Ret	AUS 2 Ret	TUR 1 2	TUR 2 3	EUR 1 4	EUR 2 5	MON 1 3	MON 2 8	GBR 1 4	GBR 2 4	IRE 1 7	IRE 2 7	GER 1 1	GER 2 4	ESP 1 7	ESP 2 3	ITA 1 4	ITA 2 6	HUN 1 DSQ	HUN 2 7	SIN 1 1	SIN 2 1	KOR 1 8	KOR 2 12	BRA 1 1	BRA 2 4	URU 1 10	URU 2 Ret	ABU 1 14	ABU 2 5			3rd	385
2011	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F150	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	BHR 1 Ret	BHR 2 Ret	USA 1 1	USA 2 9	JPN 1 2	JPN 2 2	KOR 1 4	KOR 2 1	TUR 1 3	TUR 2 Ret	ESP 1 18	ESP 2 Ret	MON 1 EX	MON 2 EX	GBR 1 1	GBR 2 16	IRE 1 3	IRE 2 Ret	EUR 1 18	EUR 2	GER 1	GER 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	ITA 1	ITA 2	URU 1	URU 2	BRA 1	BRA 2	SIN 1	SIN 2	IND 1	IND 2	ABU 1	ABU 2			11th	162
2012	Renault F1 Team	Renault R31	Renault RS27-2012 2.4 V8	BHR 1	BHR 2	MAL 1	MAL 2	JPN 1	JPN 2	KOR 1	KOR 2	TUR 1	TUR 2	EUR 1	EUR 2	MON 1	MON 2	GBR 1 3	GBR 2 7	CAN 1 6	CAN 2 Ret	USA 1 9	USA 2 22	GER 1 Ret	GER 2 8	ESP 1 12	ESP 2 22	ITA 1 Ret	ITA 2 4	ABU 1 4	ABU 2 Ret	IND 1 7	IND 2 8	URU 1 20	URU 2 14	BRA 1 7	BRA 2 18	SIN 1 5	SIN 2 Ret			16th	85
2014	Canon WilliamsF1	Williams FW36	Mercedes PU104A 1.6 I4t	BHR 1 2	BHR 2 10	MAL 1 2	MAL 2 3	BRA 1 2	BRA 2 Ret	MEX 1 2	MEX 2 1	USA 1 Ret	USA 2 5	CAN 1 Ret	CAN 2 4	GBR 1 Ret	GBR 2 Ret	ESP 1 8	ESP 2 Ret	AUT 1 4	AUT 2 4	TUR 1 Ret	TUR 2 8	GER 1 Ret	GER 2 1	POR 1 2	POR 2 Ret	ITA 1 Ret	ITA 2 7	ABU 1 16	ABU 2 3	IND 1 1	IND 2 2	CHN 1 Ret	CHN 2 Ret	KOR 1 8	KOR 2 1	JPN 1 Ret	JPN 2 1	SIN 1 3	SIN 2 Ret	3rd	383
2015	ING WilliamsF1 Mercedes	Williams FW37	Mercedes PU104A 1.6 I4t	BHR 1 1	BHR 2 2	MAL 1 Ret	MAL 2 C	BRA 1 11	BRA 2 5	MEX 1 2	MEX 2 4	USA 1 2	USA 2 2	CAN 1 3	CAN 2 Ret	GBR 1 17	GBR 2 Ret	GER 1 15†	GER 2 Ret	ESP 1 Ret	ESP 2 1	RUS 1 Ret	RUS 2 10	AUT 1 1	AUT 2 5	ITA 1 3	ITA 2 7	CPR 1 1	CPR 2 4	ABU 1 6	ABU 2 1	IND 1 2	IND 2 1	JPN 1 14	JPN 2 4	KOR 1 2	KOR 2 2	SIN 1 2	SIN 2 2	CHN 1 10	CHN 2 4	3rd	472
2016	CEPSA Red Bull Racing	Red Bull RB12	Ferrari Type 059 3.0 V10	BHR 1 5	BHR 2 2	IND 1 Ret	IND 2 5	BRA 1 2	BRA 2 4	MEX 1 4	MEX 2 7	PAC 1 8	PAC 2 3	CYP 1 12	CYP 2 6	HUN 1 7	HUN 2 10	GER 1 Ret	GER 2 Ret	GBR 1 10	GBR 2 20	RUS 1 5	RUS 2 Ret	AUT 1 2	AUT 2 3	ITA 1 5	ITA 2 Ret	EUR 1 1	EUR 2 6	ESP 1 4	ESP 2 6	USA 1 6	USA 2 6	ABU 1 11	ABU 2 7	SIN 1 DSQ	SIN 2 6	JPN 1 Ret	JPN 2 1	CHN 1 4	CHN 2 Ret	7th	299
2017	CEPSA Red Bull Racing Ferrari	Red Bull RB13	Ferrari Type 059 3.0 V10	USA 1 6	USA 2 21	JPN 1 Ret	JPN 2 2	IND 1 14	IND 2 14	BHR 1 13	BHR 2 Ret	CYP 1 12	CYP 2 15	HUN 1 EX	HUN 2 19	GER 1 9	GER 2 Ret	GBR 1 Ret	GBR 2 20	AUS 1 7	AUS 2 Ret	PAC 1 Ret	PAC 2 13	MEX 1 9	MEX 2 Ret	AUT 1 12	AUT 2 15	ITA 1 11	ITA 2 11	EUR 1 8	EUR 2 11	ESP 1 11	ESP 2 11	ABU 1 16	ABU 2 20	RUS 1 C	RUS 2 C	BRA 1 11	BRA 2 12	CHN 1 10	CHN 2 12	20th	41
2018	Shougang WilliamsF1	Williams FW40	Ferrari Type 060 3.0 V10	USA 1	USA 2	JPN 1	JPN 2	BHR 1	BHR 2	TUR 1	TUR 2	CYP 1	CYP 2	MED 1	MED 2	GER 1 Ret	GER 2 5	FIN 1	FIN 2	RUS 1	RUS 2	SIN 1	SIN 2	AUS 1	AUS 2	GBR 1	GBR 2	FRA 1	FRA 2	NED 1	NED 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	ABU 1	ABU 2	CHN 1	CHN 2	MEX 1	MEX 2	BRA 1	BRA 2	26th	6

Sporting Accolades
Preceded by: James James Davies	Formula One World Champion 2005	Succeeded by: James James Davies