Fernando Alonso

**Fernando Alonso Díaz** is a Spanish racing driver competed for Alpine in Formula 1.5. Fernando won two formula 1.5 championships in 2008 and 2014.

Born in Oviedo, Asturias to a working-class family, he began go-karting at the age of three and achieved success in local, national and world championships. Alonso progressed to car racing at age 17, winning the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 and was fourth in the International Formula 3000 Championship of 2000. He debuted in Formula 1.5 with Minardi in 2001. Alonso then drove for Renault in 2008 and 2009. Alonso then went on to join Ferrari in F1 but a lackluster campaign by the Scuderia meant that the team dropped in to F1.5, seeing the return of the Champion. A year later, Alonso went on to join McLaren where he stayed until 2018.

At the end of 2018 Alonso announced he was retiring from the sport, however he rejoined the sport at Alpine for the 2021 season along side Esteban Ocon.

## Personal Life

Alonso was born on 29 July 1981 to a working-class family in Oviedo, Asturias, Northern Spain. He is the son of the mine shaft explosives factory mechanic and amateur kart driver José Luis Alonso, and his wife, the department store employee Ana Díaz. Alonso has an elder sister, Lorena, who is a doctor.

He was educated at the Holy Guardian Angel Primary School in Oviedo from 1985 to 1995 under the Basic Education System. Alonso attended the Institute Leopoldo Alas Clarín of San Lazaro until his career in motor racing caused him to leave during his Curso de Orientación Universitaria in 2000. He was granted a permit to study away from school, after he disobeyed his mother's orders and seldom attended classes. He achieved a good academic performance by asking his classmates for notes and was unproblematic.

From November 2006 to December 2011, Alonso was married to Raquel del Rosario, the lead singer of the Spanish pop band, *El Sueño de Morfeo.* Since then he has been in relationships with four different women. Alonso supports the Real Madrid and Real Oviedo football teams, and speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish. He has a samurai tattoo on his back to show muscle strength, intelligence and force of will inspired by the 18th century spiritual guide Hagakure.

## F1.5 Career

### **Minardi (2001)**

#### **2001 Season**

Alonso debuted in the season open at Australia, where he finished the race 9th. This result was followed by another top 10 finish of 8th place at the next round. Fernando then went on to not finish five of the next 6 races. After this he had his longest finishing streak of the season of 4 races, finishing 8th in Europe, 13th in France, 12th in Britain and 8th in Germany. Alonso scored his first F1.5 points at the final race of the season in Japan where finished 5th to score 2 points. He finished the season 16th in the drivers championship with 2 points.

### **Renault (2008-2009)**

**2008 Season**

Alonso returned to F1.5 in 2008 with Renault. He had a strong year to win the championship. In Australia, the spanish driver finished 2nd behind Nico Rosberg after starting fourth place. This was his maiden podium within the F1.5 championship. In Malaysia, Fernando qualified on the 2nd row to start third, which is where he would go on to finish the race. This result put him in the lead of the championship by four points. At the next race in Bahrain, Alonso finished a low of 5th place which would mean he would fall to 2nd in the championship by two points behind Jarno Trulli. Going into Spain, Alonso put his Renault car on pole position for the first time in F1.5. He was leading the race until lap 35 where his engine blew up and retired from the race. This would mean he would now drop down to third in the drivers championship.

At the next race in Turkey, Alonso qualified just 0.005 behind Mark Webber. In the race Alonso jumped Webber off the start which would see him take his maiden F1.5 victory. In Monaco, Alonso finished 5th but was still enough to go upto 2nd place in the championship. In Canada, Alonso once again took pole position, when fighting for the lead however, Alonso crashed out to score 0 points again, dropping him back to down to third in the championship. After this the following races, showed a scattered array of results to hold third in the championship.

At Belgium, Alonso took pole position. The race had mixed conditons which saw him take another win, which was his 2nd of the season. At the following race in Italy, Alonso finished 2nd to jump up to 2nd in the championship and also be equal on points with championship leader Jarno Trulli on 75 points. From there onwards, Alonso won all the remaining races of the season, taking two more pole positons in the progress. Alonso won the drivers championship with 115 points over Jarno Trulli by 29 points.

#### **2009 Season**

The 2009 season started strong for Alonso, with a win at the opening round, after starting fourth. At the second round in Malaysia, Alonso finished fourth whilst title rival Rosberg won the race. Luckily for Alonso the race was stopped before 75% distance due to torrential rain, this meant the points given were half of what they would be full a full race distance. This meant Alonso held on to the lead of the championship by 0.5 points. Over the next three races Alonso took pole at all of them and finished 2nd, 1st, 1st. This meant Alonso was now leading the championship by 12.5 points over Rosberg.

Alonso then finished 2nd and third at the next two rounds before finishing a lowley 6th place at Britain, where title rival Rosberg won his third consecutive race. This meant that Alonso had lost the championship lead by 0.5 points. At the next race in Germany, Alonso finished 2nd but failed to gain ground on Rosberg who made it a fourth victory in a row. Alonso was now 2.5 points behind and needed a strong result in Hungary to bounce back. After qualifying on pole in qualifying, however a loose wheel in the race meant that he retired from the race scoring 0 points, whilst Rosberg went on to make it 5 wins in a row. Next on the calendar was the European Grand Prix. Alonso now 12.5 points off the championship leader needed a good result. He went on to finish the European grand prix in 2nd, behind Rosberg.

With 6 rounds left, the title fight was heating up, and Alonso needed to hope for a good result. However, for the second time this season Alonso had another retirement down to loose wheels. Rosberg finished the race 4th. In Italy, at the next race, Alonso finished 2nd whilst Rosberg finished 7th. This meant the championship lead was closed to 13.5 points. In Sinagpore, Rosberg took pole but it was Alonso who took the win, his fourth of the season, whilst Rosberg finished off the podium in 4th place. The championship lead was cut again, it's now 8.5 points.

Now just 3 rounds remain. In Japan Rosberg took top honours to win the race, whilst Alonso came home fourth. 13.5 points now seperate the two drivers. It was all down to the final two races. Alonso had to outscore Rosberg in Brazil by just 3.5 points to still have a chance at winning the championship. However, Alonso was out on the first lap. Rosberg went on to DNF the race as well, but the championship was over for Alonso. Rosberg had won it with a round to spare. Alonso finished the final round of the season in 6th place. Overall, Alonso finished 2nd in the championship with 99.5 points.

### **Ferrari (2014)**

#### **2014 Season**

2014 saw the return of Alonso in F1.5 with Ferrari. Ferrari's poor perfomance with the new engine regulations meant they had slowed conciderbly from previous seasons.

In Australia, at the opening of the season, Alonso qualified second behind rookie McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen. In the race, Alonso fell to third to finish behind the two McLaren drivers of Button and Magnussen. A wet qualifying at the next round in Malaysia saw Alonso take his first pole position since his return. Fernando then went on to the win the race, and take the championship lead. At round 3, in Bahrain, the Spaniard qualified third and then went on to finish in the same position, but maintained the championship lead. Fernando went on to win the next three races to give a championship lead of 36 points.

Alonso qualified on pole for round 7 at Canada, but came home third in the race which only had 9 finishers. At the next race in Austria, normal service was resumed for the Ferrari driver which saw him take pole and the win. The next race was Silverstone, and Ferrari had a bad qualifying with Alonso starting a lowly 10th. Alonso passed Gutiérrez on lap 2, Sutil and Bianchi on lap 3, Kvyat on lap 6, and Hülkenberg on lap 8 to sit third behind the two McLarens. Alonso's relentless pace continued as he hunted down Magnussen, passing him on lap 15, and then passing Button for the lead on lap 25 before making his stop. Magnussen pitted in response, but it was to no avail as he lost second place. Button stayed out a little longer but managed to keep the lead after his stop. During the second stint, Alonso's pace on the hard tyre was less impressive and he began focusing more on defending from Magnussen. Alonso ended the race 2nd.

The next two races at Germany and Hungary saw Alonso take his sixth and seventh wins of the season. At the next race in Spa, Belgium Alonso took pole but a dramatic race for the Spaniard meant he would finish third. At the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari's home event, Alonso retired due to a ERS failure on lap 29. His lead in the championship was slashed but yet still comfy.

At Singapore, Alonso bounced back to take pole and the win. At Japan Alonso once again started from pole but retired from the race in the opening stages. Russia was next on the calendar, where he finished in third position. After Russia, it was time to fly to America where Alonso took his last win of the season, after starting on pole. In Brazil, he finished 2nd followed by a fourth place finish in Abu Dhabi, to be his only finish of the season which wasn't on the podium. Overall Fernando won the championship with 360 points over Jenson Button by 42 points.

### **McLaren (2015-2018)**

#### **2015 Season**

All attention was on McLaren as the season got started. Reigning champion Alonso moved to the team to partner 5-time champion Button; with 7 titles between them this made them the most decorated pair of teammates in F1.5 history. Not only that, but they were making a great leap into the unknown by bringing Honda back into the sport for the first time since 2008.

During pre-season testing in Barcelona, Alonso had a strange accident exiting turn 3. From there, it seems to be all hearsay, as McLaren released very few details of what happened. Alonso was reportedly unconscious for a few seconds after the crash, and may or may not have woken up thinking it was 1995. He spent a few days in hospital and on doctor's orders was made to sit out from the opening round of the season in Australia. 2014 driver Kevin Magnussen was brought in to replace him.

Alonso returned to racing at Malaysia, where he qualified down the grid, he then failed to see the chequered flag. The next two races after this saw Alonso score points with 8th in China and 7th in in Bahrain. Fernando failed to finish the next four races. This meant out of the first 7 races Alonso had started he had only finished two.

Things looked to be better from Great Britain with a sixth place finish, then followed by a fourth place in Hungary. At the next race in Belgium, he finished 9th to make it 3 point finishes in a row. In Monza, Alonso finished 14th and out of the points for the first time in the season, but then at the next race he once again failed to finish.

Alonso finished 7th in Japan, 8th in Russia and 8th in America. He didnt score again for the season. He finished with 46 points for the season in 14th place.

#### **2016 Season**

Fernando's second season with McLaren went alot better than the first.

At Australia, things didn't go his way with a retirment after a large collision with Esteban Guitierez from Haas. The race was red flagged due to the scale of the incident. The incident caused him to miss the next round in Bahrain as told to do so by the doctors. He was replaced at Bahrain by Stoffel Vandoorne.

On his return, at the next round, Alonso finished sixth to take home 8 points. At the next round, at Russia he took a third place, his first podium for McLaren, and his first since 2014 when he drove for Ferrari. Two rounds later at Monaco, Alonso took another podium with 2nd place, then at the following round in Canada he finished 5th to take another 10 points.

At Hungary Alonso took his first win for McLaren, which was followed by a third place in Belgium and another win at Singapore. The next race at Malaysia saw him finish third. He then took his final win of the season at the American Grand Prix.

Alonso finished the season 5th in the championship with 203 points.

#### **2017 Season**

The 2017 season was tipped to be a good season for McLaren-Honda after 2016's push back towards the top, McLaren aslo changed their driver line up, so that Alonso would now partner Stoffel Vandoorne.

The start of the season didn't go as expected with the first two rounds finishing prematurley . Bahrain, was also another retirment but as Alonso had completed 90% of the race he was classified. Therefore he was classified 9th to pick up his first points of the season. Round 4 wasn't any better at Russia, where the spaniard failed to make the starting grid before being plagued with yet more engine issues. At Spain, his home race, Alonso finally finished a race where he come 9th to take 2 more points. Alonso then missed the next race at Monaco, where he was instead, driving the Indy 500. He was replaced by Jenson Button for the weekend.

Upon his return to the sport in Canada, Alonso failed to finish the race, but yet again classified from the distance completed, although this time he scored no points. In Azerbaijan, a dramatic and eventful race saw him come home P5 to take 10 points, his best points hall of the year so far. The next two races once again brought more retirments.

The final race before the summer break was Hungary, where Alonso won the race, taking the full 25 points and pushing himself up the championship order. However when returning back after the summer break he failed to see the finish line for 3 races, although classified in one. At Malaysia, things looked up with Alonso finishing 6th to bring home 8 points, and then repeating the same result at Japan. The American Grand Prix was another retirment.

For the final three races, things were the best they had been all season for Alonso, finishing 5th in Mexico, followed by 2nd in Brazil and 4th in Abu Dhabi. Overall, Alonso finished 9th in the championship with 95 points, compared to teammate Vandoorne who finished 10th with 90 points.

#### **2018 Season**

For the 2018 season McLaren ditched Honda engines and made the move to Renault powered engines. This move was expected to bring McLaren back to winning ways, as Honda was being blamed for all their troubles in 15,16 and 17. Alonso would once again be partnered by Stoffel Vandoorne.

Australia started well, with Alonso taking the win and his teammate Vandoorne finishing third. This was the first time Alonso had lead the championship since 2014 with Ferrari. In the next race at Bahrain, Alonso finished fourth, but still held on to the championship lead over Nico Hulkenberg. China brought Alonso his second podium of the season with a second place finish, behind Hulkenberg, which meant Alonso fell to 2nd in the championship by 3 points. At the next round in Azerbaijan, Alonso would take another fourth place finish, rival Hulkenberg failed to finish the race, meaning Alonso was once again in the lead of the championship, this time by 9 points. Alonso's home grand prix, saw him finish on the podium with 3rd place, but once again Hulkenberg did not finish. Alonso now lead the championship over Carlos Sainz by 15 points.

Things took a turn from the next round in Monaco, with a machanichal retirment. Alonso was still leading the championship though by 3 points. At the next race in Canada, it was another retirment for the Spanish driver. This meant he had now fallen down to third in the drivers championship. Things weren't much better either at France, with Alonso only finishing 10th.

Round 9, at Austria saw Alonso come home 5th, his best result since Spain. The very next race at Silverstone, Alonso returned to the podium with a third place finish. Germany saw a late retirment, but he was classified. At Hungary, Alonso took another podium with third place. The next two races after the summer break, saw Alonso retire from them both. At this point Alonso was 5th with 123 points in the championship. At Singapore, Alonso won the race for the first time since Australia.

At the next race in Russia, Alonso finished 8th place brining home 4 points, then repeated the result again at the next race in Japan. The next three races were pointless with 2 DNF's and a no score finish at Brazil. In the final race of the season, Alonso finished 6th.

Alonso finsihed the season with 164 points in 7th place, whilst teammate Vandoorne scored 106 in 11th. Alonso 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.

### **Alpine (2021-2022)**

#### **2021 Season**

Alonso was signed to drive for Alpine F1 Team for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, alongside Esteban Ocon, after Renault rebranded the teamname to Alpine from 2021 onwards. In preparation for his Formula One return, Alonso performed four testing days driving the Renault R.S.18 and topped the timing charts in the post 2020 season young driver's test driving the Renault R.S.20 for Renault.

In his first race with Alpine he had to retire after plastic debris entered his brake duct. At the Imola GP Alonso took his first points in his return to F1.5 finishing 8th after penalties. The Alpine looked quick at the next race in Portugal where he finished fourth with the fastest lap. At the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso temporarily led the race before pitting. Teammate Ocon would go on to win the race, where Alonso would finish fourth but was promoted to third after Sebastian Vettel was disqualified from the race result.

After the summer break, Alonso would take 2 more third place finishes at the Dutch and Russian Grand Prix's. In the final tripple header of the season, Alonso scored his first and only win of the season at Qatar, whilst teammate Ocon finished 2nd to bring home an Alpine 1-2. At the next round in Saudi Arabia, Ocon would win the race whilst Alonso would finish down the order in tenth place.

Alonso finished the season in 6th place with 176 points. In total he scored four podiums, one of which was a win. Teammate Ocon finished the season in 7th, 10 points further back.

#### 2022 Season

Alonso was joined at Alpine with Ocon for the second consecutive year. The season started strong in Bahrain finishing 5th, and then was battling for the win in the 2nd race with teammate Ocon before an engine failure made him retire from the race. Alonso took his first podium of the season at Monaco finishing 2nd, and then finished third at the next race in Azerbaijan. In Canada, Alonso took pole position for the first time since the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alonso would finish 2nd behind teammate Ocon, however was demoted to fourth after being given a 5 second penalty after the race. It would be redemption at the next race in the British GP taking the win, after Ocon and Bottas retired and Norris making a strategic error. Just 2 races later Alonso took another win, this time it was the French GP after taking the lead off of Norris at turn 1. At the final race before the summer break, Alonso finished 2nd moving him above Bottas in the standings in third, with some tipping him for an outside chance at the championship title.

During the summer break it was announced that Alonso would leave Alpine at the end of the year to join Aston Martin.

On return from the summer break in Belgium, Alonso started from pole position which translated into the race win. He'd then win again at the next race in The Netherlands to make it back-to-back wins. Alonso was now within 20 points of teammate Ocon in the standings and 25 points off leader Norris. At the next race in Italy, Alonso failed to see the chequered flag due to a failure on the car. More misery would occur at the next race in Singapore when Alonso's engine failed whilst he was running in 2nd place behind Norris. Alonso would finish third at Japan to return to the podium.

In the US, Alonso was running in the podium places when he crashed with Lance Stroll, the crash ended Stroll's race but Alonso carried on with signifcant damage to the car. Nethertheless he pulled his car back up from last of the remaining runners to finish 2nd place. He was later issued a penalty for driving the car in an unsafe condition, however an appeal by Alpine saw the 2nd place re-isssued. In Mexico, Alonso was leading the race when he had an engine failure making him retire.

At the Brazilian GP, he clashed with his teammate Ocon not once but twice in the Sprint meaning the team scored no points in the sprint race. This meant Lando Norris was world champion. During the main race on sunday, the two drivers worked together to get back up the grid and finish 1st and 2nd with Alonso taking his last win for the Alpine team. This result secured Alpine their first constructors title. His final race with the team, in Abu Dhabi, ended in yet another retirement.

Alonso finished the season third in the drivers championship, this was the first time he finished the championship in the top 3 since he won the title in 2014 with Ferrari. He finished with 269 points, being outscored by Ocon by 59 points.