Fernando Alonso

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Fernando Alonso
Nationality	Spanish
Car #	1
Current team	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
World Championship career
Races	89 (88 starts)
World Championships	2 (2005, 2006)
Wins	15
Podium finishes	38
Pole positions	15
Fastest laps	8
First race	2001 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
Latest win	2006 Japanese Grand Prix
Latest race	2007 Australian Grand Prix
2007 Championship position	2nd (8 pts)

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 58 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 Pre-Formula One 3 Formula One 3.1 2001: Minardi 3.2 2002-2006: Renault 3.2.1 2002-03 3.2.2 2004 3.2.3 2005 3.2.4 2006 3.3 2007- : McLaren 3.4 Controversies 3.5 Complete Formula One results 4 Trivia 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Personal and early life

Born Fernando Alonso Díaz 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.

Alonso has an older sister Lorena. Alonso's father José Luis, an amateur kart racer, wished to pass on his passion to his children. He built a pedal kart originally meant for eight-year-old Lorena, but she showed no interest in the sport as opposed to her three-year-old brother.

On November 17, 2006, he secretly married Raquel del Rosario, lead singer of Spanish pop group El Sueño de Morfeo. This was not revealed until late February, 2007.^{[citation needed]}

[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 financial 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, 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.

Former Minardi F1 driver Adrián Campos gave Alonso his first test in a race car in October 1998. After three days of testing Alonso had matched the lap times of Campos' previous driver Marc Gene.^{[citation needed]} Campos signed Alonso to race for him in the 1999 Spanish Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan.^[2]

He won his first race at the second attempt that year, at the same Albacete circuit where he tested in 1998. By the final round of the season he needed to win and set fastest lap to beat rival Manuel Giao to the championship, which he did. Alonso also took the opportunity to test for the Minardi F1 team, where sporting director Cesare Fiorio saw him lap 1.5 seconds faster than the other drivers being tested by Minardi.^[2] The following season Alonso moved up to Formula 3000, which was often the final step for drivers before ascending to Formula One. Alonso joined Team Astromega and was the youngest driver in the series that year by eleven months.^[2]

Alonso didn't score a point until the seventh race of the year, but in the final two rounds he took a second place and a victory, enough for him to end the season fourth overall behind Bruno Junqueira, Nicolas Minassian and Mark Webber.^[2]

[edit] Formula One

[edit] 2001: Minardi

See also: Minardi

Alonso was the third-youngest driver ever to start a F1 race when he made his debut with Minardi at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. The team was in its first season under the control of new owner Paul Stoddart and their new car, the PS01, was neither competitive nor reliable. However Alonso's qualifying performance was good, at his first race he out-qualified team mate Tarso Marques by 2.6s. At the fourth round at Imola he outqualified both of the Benettons, a feat he repeated later in the season.^[2]

In September, his manager Flavio Briatore had begun planning to place Alonso at Benetton. Briatore considered promoting Alonso for 2002, in place of Jenson Button, but instead chose to take Alonso on as a full-time test driver for 2002.^[2] At the final round of 2001 at Suzuka he finished eleventh - five places outside the points but ahead, on merit, of Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Prost (with a Ferrari-derived engine), the BAR-Honda of Olivier Panis, the two Arrows and Alex Yoong (his new team mate).^[2]

[edit] 2002-2006: Renault

See also: Renault F1

[edit] 2002-03

Alonso became test driver for Renault in 2002 (Renault having taken over the Benetton team) and did 1,642 laps of testing that year. In 2003 Briatore dropped Button and put Alonso in the second seat alongside Jarno Trulli.^[2]

The Spaniard became the youngest driver to achieve a Formula One pole position at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. Alonso had a 180mph crash at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, the result of missing double yellow flags^{[citation needed]} brought out by Mark Webber's earlier crash and colliding with the debris. The race was red-flagged. He finished second at his home grand prix two races later, and became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. He finished the year sixth in the championship, with 55 points and four podiums.

[edit] 2004

Alonso remained with Renault for the 2004 season. In the early part of 2004 questions were asked of Alonso when he was generally out-qualified by teammate Jarno Trulli. However towards the end of the year Trulli's performance deteriorated and he 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. Alonso ended the year a fourth in the championship standings, scoring 59 points and four podiums.

[edit] 2005

For the 2005 season, he was joined at Renault by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella. He fought his way up to third in the first race in Australia after qualifying near the back due to the wet conditions. For the second race of the season, in Malaysia, he qualified in pole position and won the race. Alonso won the Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position, and the San Marino Grand Prix after a 13-laps battle with the 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher. He finished second behind Kimi Räikkönen at the Spanish Grand Prix.

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, eventually causing the suspension to fail.

At the Canadian Grand Prix Alonso 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 and fifth win at the French Grand Prix. He followed this with pole position a week later at the British Grand Prix, where he finished a second behind Montoya. 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 6th and finished 11th 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 went off the track in the closing stages of the race. At Monza, Alonso qualified third finished second behind Montoya. At the Belgian Grand Prix, Alonso finished second. He 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. 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]}

[edit] 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 pit lane with 18 laps left, having qualified fourth. He qualified seventh at the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a fueling error^[3][4] 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 at San Marino, Alonso was unable to pass Michael Schumacher in the race. Alonso secured 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 won 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 and after 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.^[5]

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. In Canada he secured his fifth pole position in a row and won the race.

He qualified fifth for the United States Grand Prix 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, with Alonso in second. Alonso finished fifth in the German Grand Prix, with the Renault uncompetitive in the race.^[6]

After his two-seconds penaly at the Hungarian Grand Prix,^[7] he qualified in 15th place. Rival Michael Schumacher qualified in 11th place after being penalised with another two seconds.^[8] Alonso looked set for an unlikely win as he overtook most of the field, including Schumacher around the outside of turn 5, as he showed extreme prowess in the wet conditions. However 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. At the following race in Turkey, Alonso finished in second, ahead of Schumacher in third, after a 13-lap battle.

At the Italian Grand Prix Alonso suffered a tyre puncture during qualifying that also damaged bodywork at the back of his chassis. He qualified fifth but was later controversially punished^[9] by the stewards for blocking Felipe Massa's Ferrari,^[10] and he started the race from the 10th position. 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, an engine failure 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 a a problematic pit stop that took 19 seconds, Alonso finished second to Schumacher. The result tied Alonso and Schumacher by points in the drivers championship, but saw Alonso demoted to second place due to Schumacher winning one more race.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, the Ferraris of Schumacher and Massa qualified first and second, 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, Schumacher's engine failed and he could not finish the race. Alonso won and recovered the first place in the driver's championship, with a 10-point advantage over Schumacher with 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, when he finished second behind Felipe Massa's Ferrari. With Schumacher finishing fourth, the final difference was 13 points. Alonso thus became the youngest double champion in the sport's history. Renault also clinched the Constructors' Championship with a 5-point gap over Ferrari.

[edit] 2007- : McLaren

See also: McLaren

On December 19, 2005, Fernando Alonso announced that he would be moving to McLaren for 2007.^[11] His contract with Renault was set to expire on December 31, 2006 However, on December 15, 2006, Alonso was allowed by Flavio Briatore and the Renault F1 Team to test for one day for McLaren in the Jerez circuit, as a result of his successes with Renault. Driving an unbranded MP4-21 and wearing a plain white helmet and overalls, Alonso completed 95 laps but, due to the car lacking a timer transponder, his lap times could not be fully determined.^[12] This test session did not mean that his contract had expired. Lewis Hamilton was chosen as his partner for the season. McLaren are reported to be paying Alonso GB£20 million (approx US$39 million c. 2007) in 2007. Alonso debuted with the new McLaren car on January 15, 2007, in the streets of Valencia. Alonso has recently taken delivery of his company car, the 150 car limited edition Mercedes-McLaren SLR 722. Alonso described the SLR 722 as the "prettiest car in the world."

[edit] Controversies

• At the 2003 European Grand Prix, David Coulthard and McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh accused Alonso of giving Coulthard a brake test.^[13]

• At the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso was involved in an incident which he braketested Red Bull Racing test driver Robert Doornbos in the second free practice session. The Stewards decided that Alonso’s actions were “unnecessary, unacceptable and dangerous”, and awarded him a one second time penalty to be applied to his fastest lap time in each of the qualifying sessions.^[7]

• For a separate incident from the same race, when Michael Schumacher was asked whether he thought Alonso slowed down on purpose so that Schumacher had to pass him under red flags in practice the German replied, "You said that, I didn't."^[14]

• In 2006 Italian Grand Prix, after stewards ruled Alonso had blocked Felipe Massa in Saturday qualifying and relegated him five place on the starting grid, Alonso stated "I love the sport, love the fans coming here - a lot of them from Spain but I don't consider Formula One like a sport any more".^[9]

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)