Motor racing career of Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso is a Spanish racing driver who has won two Formula One World Championships, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, the 24 Hours of Daytona once and the Euro Open by Nissan. He progressed from kart racing to car racing with the Euro Open by Nissan with the Campos Motorsport team in 1999, winning the series from Manuel Gião at his first attempt with six race victories and nine pole positions. Alonso progressed to the higher tier International Formula 3000 Championship in 2000 with Team Astromega. He  finished fourth in the point standings with a second-place finish at the Hungaroring and a race victory at the season-ending race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He moved to Formula One in with the Minardi team on a loan agreement with Benetton. Alonso was moved to the Renault test team by his manager Flavio Briatore in and worked alongside the engineering department to help improve the form of race drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button. He was promoted to a race seat at Renault for , becoming the youngest driver to win a pole position and a Grand  Prix that year. After failing to achieve a Grand Prix victory in , he duelled McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen and broke Emerson Fittipaldi's 33-year record of youngest Formula One World Drivers' Champion with seven Grand Prix wins and 133 points in . In 2006, Alonso's main competitor was Michael Schumacher of Ferrari and won his second World Title to become the youngest two-time Formula One champion. For , he agreed a move to McLaren and partnered rookie Lewis Hamilton. Alonso's main rivals that year were Hamilton and Räikkönen, and he achieved four Grand Prix victories for third place  in the championship. He left the team due to a falling out with the management at McLaren, and returned to Renault for and , taking two race victories in the former season. Alonso joined Ferrari in and finished second to Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel with five race wins. In , he won a solitary Grand Prix for fourth overall and improved to second in with three race victories and coming second after a championship challenge to Vettel. Alonso again finished runner-up to Vettel in and left Ferrari after a season in which he achieved no race victories and fell  to sixth overall. A return to McLaren from to did not result in any further success due to an unreliable and underpowered car. Junior car racing career. Alonso progressed to car racing at the age of 17. Retired driver Adrián Campos and Niki Lauda's former chief mechanic Ermanno Cuoghi observed Alonso at the Marlboro Masters kart race in the Palau Sant Jordi. Campos contacted Alonso about driving Marc Gené's Campos Motorsport car and the latter tested the vehicle at the Circuito de Albacete in October 1998. He accepted Campos' offer of a three-year contract and replaced Gené  for the 1999 Euro Open by Nissan. Alonso won the championship at the final race of the season from Manuel Gião with six victories and nine pole positions. For the 2000 season, he moved to the higher-tier International Formula 3000 Championship with the Minardi-backed Team Astromega. Driver Robert Lechner lacked the sponsorship money to drive for Astromega and Benetton's operations director Joan Villadelprat advised its manager Sam Boyle to enquire Campos about Alonso. Astromega signed Alonso after a two-day test session at the Circuit de Catalunya. Alonso improved his English to better communicate with mechanics and  Rob Smedley was his race engineer. His Lola had an understeer that was removed with a set-up alteration to include additional oversteer and increase Alonso's comfort. Astromega allowed Campos to attend the team's technical meetings since Alonso wanted his feedback. He was second at the Hungaroring and won the season-ending Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps race for fourth outright with 17 points. Formula One testing and Minardi (1999–2001). Cesare Fiorio, the sports director, gave Alonso his debut in a Formula One car at a test session at the Circuito de Jerez on 13 December 1999 as part  of the Euro Open by Nissan's organising company RPM agreement to provide its champion with an opportunity to test at a higher level. Fiorio contacted the Minardi team principal Gabriele Rumi afterwards to draft a ten-year contract for Alonso to sign. Minardi signed Alonso as its reserve and test driver for Gene and Gastón Mazzacane for . The marketing director Massimo Rivola took Alonso to meet Rumi in August 2000. Alonso was unhappy about this because he felt his time could be better spent elsewhere. He then ventured to Maranello and met the Ferrari team principal Jean Todt after  Todt telephoned Campos. Alonso reached an agreement in principle with Todt and was told not to sign with another team. The agreement was terminated when Flavio Briatore became Alonso's manager. In December 2000, Minardi allowed Alonso to drive for Benetton in a test session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo and accumulated enough driving time to become eligible for an FIA Super Licence. As part of a loan agreement with Benetton, Alonso drove for Minardi in . Briatore sent Alonso to Minardi to provide him with experience of Formula One racing. Alonso stated he wanted to drive competitively and not become  pre-occupied with results: "I hope people will have patience with me because I will be starting from the back row of the grid." He began working with the physiotherapists Edoardo Bendinelli and Fabricio Borra, who monitored his physical training and regulated his diet to ensure his weight was constant before a season and a race. Alonso performed better than his more experienced teammate and Minardi lead driver Tarso Marques and later Alex Yoong in a non-competitive car. He attained a season-best finish of tenth at the and scored no points for 23rd overall. Alonso adapted to left  foot braking, and he matured driving-wise. Renault (2002–2006). 2002. Notable performances over the season earned Alonso some attention from the higher-tier racing teams. Some European press publications reported in September 2001 that the Sauber team sought to replace outgoing Kimi Räikkönen with Alonso who had competition for the seat from the Euro Formula 3000 champion Felipe Massa and the Jaguar test driver André Lotterer. He was also linked to employment at the Prost and Arrows teams. In September, Briatore had begun planning to place Alonso at the Benetton team. He had considered promoting Alonso for the 2002 championship , in place of his race driver Jenson Button, who had under-performed compared to his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. After he declined multiple offers to race in 2002, Alonso joined Renault as a test driver two months later to broaden his skills and prepare to be a race driver per Briatore's instructions. He worked with the engineering team to improve Fisichella and Button's performances. Alonso covered 1,642 laps in test sessions in Spain and the United Kingdom with Renault, and took part in an evaluation session at the Silverstone Circuit to compare himself against the Jaguar test drivers Lotterer  and James Courtney in May 2002. 2003–2004. Alonso was linked to five teams for a race seat in and was strongly favoured to replace Button at Renault. Briatore promoted him to its race team for 2003. Alonso trained in Kenya with the team on a fitness programme in late 2002 to prepare for the season. He said his stint as a test driver had prepared him and felt pre-race testing would better acquaint him with the tracks. Alonso felt confident driving the R23 which responded adequately to setup changes and its Michelin tyres allowed him to use extra aggressive  race strategies. At the season's second round, the , Alonso took his first career pole position, becoming Formula One's youngest pole sitter at 21 years and 236 days. He took consecutive third-place finishes in Malaysia and Brazil; Alonso had a accident in Brazil, sustaining a bruised left elbow, knee and thigh. He then finished second at the and eclipsed Bruce McLaren's record as Formula One's youngest driver to claim a race victory when he won the from pole position aged 22 years and 26 days. Alonso finished the year sixth overall with 55 points scored and  four podium finishes. He remained with Renault for . Alonso regularly travelled to Renault's factory in Enstone, England during the R24's construction and discussed a large amount of information with his engineers during the off-season. He felt confident with the car the first time he drove it: Alonso described the R24 as quicker than the R23, having a similar steering style and found it not too difficult to become acquainted with. Alonso said his objective for 2004 was to improve from the 2003 season but recognised the difficulty of the task. Alonso had a consistent year with four  podium finishes, a pole position at the and no race victories. He finished in fourth place in the drivers' championship with 59 points. 2005–2006. For , he stayed with Renault. Alonso visited the team's factory in Enstone during pre-season for a seat fitting to feel comfortable in the R25. He felt the more powerful and driveable car was more constant over a long period of time and that it had improved braking and stability. The media considered Renault the pre-season favourites to win the championship and predicted a closely fought duel between Alonso and his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella . Alonso said he entered the year in a positive mood and push hard and enjoy racing. He and McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen team vied for the championship that year due to regulation changes mandating teams not to change tyres during a race and engines had to last for two races before they could be changed. Alonso drove a more reliable R25 than Räikkönen's car albeit lacking in outright pace. He was occasionally conservative to accumulate points rather than duel for wins. Alonso took seven victories, six pole positions and the reliability of his car and consistent results allowed him  to claim his first drivers' title two rounds early at the . Alonso became the youngest Formula One world champion at the age of 24 years and 58 days, eclipsing Emerson Fittipaldi's record the latter had held since . He concluded the season with 133 points from finishing all but two out of 19 races and had 14 top-three finishes. Negotiations to extend Alonso's contract to the end of began with Renault in April 2005. Jean Todt was interested in bringing Alonso to Ferrari, something the latter did not want because of the presence of the seven-time world  champion Michael Schumacher. Alonso signed a two-year contract with Renault that same month. A majority of bookmakers considered him the favourite to retain the drivers' championship. Alonso believed Schumacher and Honda driver Jenson Button would challenge him. He said he was better relaxed. less stressed than the year before and was more motivated and interested because Renault were defending the championship: That season, Schumacher was Alonso's primary rival in the championship. Alonso won six of the season's first nine races and finished in the top two positions to score a possible 84 out of 90 points. A  Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body)-imposed ban on Renault's tuned mass damper device reduced Alonso's performance and an increase of development into Schumacher's Ferrari allowed him to go from being 25 points behind Alonso to level the total number of points the latter had accumulated before the penultimate round, the . Alonso won after Schumacher retired with an engine failure while leading. Alonso required one championship point at the season-ending to claim his second drivers' title. By finishing second, Alonso became Formula One's youngest two-time world champion aged 25 years and  85 days. McLaren (2007). The McLaren team owner Ron Dennis asked Alonso in Brazil in October 2005 whether he would like to drive for his team in the future after Alonso expressed interest in doing so. Alonso and Dennis met secretly in Japan, signing a three-year contract three weeks later. Alonso's family, lawyers and his manager Luis Garcia Abad negotiated; he was eager to inform Flavio Briatore about the deal in person but could not do so due to a scheduling conflict. The news was made public on 19 December 2005. Alonso told McLaren senior personnel before the  2006 German Grand Prix he was dissatisfied with the relationship between himself and Briatore, with Dennis and Garcia discussing Alonso joining McLaren in a mid-season swap, before concurring an agreement was unfeasible. His contract with Renault was due to expire on 31 December 2006; Alonso was not granted an early release for sponsorship reasons. After McLaren did not approach Briatore about an early release of Alonso to them, he and Renault allowed Alonso to acclimatise with McLaren. Alonso drove a MP4-21 car at a test session at the Circuito de Jerez after pleading with Briatore to reach a  compromise after Dennis could not do so. McLaren were initially concerned that Alonso's aggressive driving style would not suit their car because they believed Renault had built themselves around him. He had two seat fittings in the MP4-22 car at the McLaren Technology Centre, the team's Woking headquarters, between December 2006 and January 2007. McLaren reportedly paid Alonso £60 million. He said his objective was to win the world championship and felt McLaren's switch from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres would help him. That year, Alonso challenged his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen  for the championship. He took four race victories in Malaysia, Monaco, Europe and Italy and led the points standings after the Malaysia round before Hamilton took it from him. Before the season-ending , he had 103 points in the championship to Räikkonen's 100 and Hamilton's 107. Alonso needed to win the race and for Hamilton to finish third to win the championship. He finished third in the race for third overall with 109 points. He had the same number of points as Hamilton; the tie was broken on count-back, Alonso had one less second-place finish than  Hamilton. Departure from McLaren. His relationship with Dennis deteriorated during the year. Alonso believed Dennis had given him priority over his teammate Hamilton; he did not feel it with the team's accommodation arrangements and Hamilton matching his performance. Alonso told Dennis he and Hamilton should not be racing each other. Dennis talked to him and his manager in public in Sakhir, Bahrain. He later argued with Dennis after he won the Monaco Grand Prix; Alonso was instructed to push when his car's rear brake calipers were overheating and Hamilton had gained on him through a differing pit stop  strategy to stop later than planned. Dennis said to both drivers he did not want an intra-team rivalry; according to a source close to Alonso, "That was the divorce. That moment onwards it was full divorce. By the Alonso and Dennis were not on normal speaking terms, and was convinced Hamilton received preferential treatment over him. McLaren mechanic Tyler Alexander was worried about the influence of Alonso's advisers and the latter's frustration with the team. He refused Alexander's request to speak to him. Inter-team relations deteriorated further when Hamilton ignored Dennis' order to allow Alonso  past during qualifying in Hungary. Alonso then delayed Hamilton in the McLaren pit stall for ten seconds after he was signalled to leave and prevented his teammate from recording a final timed lap. His teammate and Anthony Hamilton reported Alonso to the stewards and was demoted from pole position to sixth. Shortly before the race, Alonso and his manager told Dennis he would leak emails relevant to the espionage controversy to the FIA in which a McLaren employee possessed confidential technical information about Ferrari's car. He subsequently said to Dennis and then McLaren's COO Martin Whitmarsh he wanted  Hamilton to deplete his car's supply of fuel during the Grand Prix. Dennis and Whitmarsh sent Alonso out of the motorhome and agreed not to allow Alonso to duel Hamilton because of concerns over blackmail. He informed the FIA president Max Mosley about what Alonso had said and was advised not to withdraw him. Afterwards Alonso retracted his comments and apologised to Dennis. Mosley subsequently initiated a second espionage trial and requested access to McLaren's emails. It transpired Alonso had obtained, read and used the leaked technical information and race strategy details from Ferrari. Alonso and his lawyers  met with Dennis not long after to negotiate an early release from his contract. At the McLaren Technology Centre on the afternoon of 2 November 2007, he and McLaren mutually agreed to end their working relationship early without the payment of compensation. It included an agreement stipulating Alonso not to join a team whom McLaren considered their main championship challengers for . Second stint with Renault (2008–2009). He had several options for 2008 and was unsure where he would drive. AGarcia Abad said of the situation: "He will decide when he knows the best option for his future." In November 2007 , Alonso and his manager entered into negotiations that lasted for "weeks" with the Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz and adviser Gerhard Berger in Madrid. They put forward an offer of a two-year contract with the option for a third, which he rejected. He also considered a switch to Toyota. Flavio Briatore told Alonso he would be happy to invite a return to Renault if he desired it. He signed a two-year contract with an option for a third year to rejoin Renault on 10 December 2007 and was paid around £25.2 million. An important factor in  his decision was Renault's long-term commitment to Formula One and its on-track record. Alonso undertook a fitness regime in Switzerland to prepare for the season. 2008. He felt more motivated to improve his performance than in 2006 and was happier in a different environment. Alonso vowed not to alter his approach to racing for victories at Renault and would work hard to achieve his goal. An imposed moratorium in development meant the R28 had an engine power disadvantage than the main teams early on and Alonso scored nine points in the first seven races. Developments to the  car's aerodynamics improved his performance and he won in Singapore and Japan; the former race saw Renault order his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash deliberately and trigger the deployment of the safety car to allow Alonso claim a victory in what became known as "crashgate". Alonso was cleared of any wrongdoing. Alonso's performance in the season's last five events saw him accumulate more points than any other driver with 43. Overall, he took 61 points and was fifth in the drivers' championship. 2009. Alonso was due to be a free agent for had Renault finished lower  than third in the constructors' championship. Honda made signing Alonso to a £7.6 million contract its main priority; he reportedly considered the offer due to the arrival of Ross Brawn as its team principal. Late in 2008, Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, and the adviser Helmut Marko presented Flavio Bratore with a two-year contract for Alonso covering 2009 and . Alonso declined the offer because he would only commit to Red Bull for one season, and signed a two-year contract with Renault on 5 November. He expressed his and Renault's aim to win the championship  and was aware it would be difficult to achieve: "When you win a drivers' title, winning the constructors' one is more special because usually it's harder to score points. So winning both titles is our goal. That was very hard to do last year, but then, when we were strong in the final races our goals changed." The R29 proved to be more noncompetitive than its predecessor due to the car lacking a dual diffuser system and pace. Alonso eschewed an aerodynamic front wing mandated in an attempt to make overtaking more possible since he did not believe it  would benefit him. He scored points in eight races and took one podium result: a third-place finish at the season's 14th round, the . Alonso won for the and led the first 12 laps before he retired due to an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel. Alonso was ninth in the drivers' championship with 26 points, his lowest placing since he came sixth in the 2003 season; he maintained his reputation as one of Formula One's best drivers. Ferrari (2010–2014). Alonso met the Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo on 10 August 2007 and the two reached a verbal  agreement for him to drive for the team in 2009. Di Montezemolo talked about Alonso's skill to Stefano Domenicali several times and was helped by Michael Schumacher; he said to Alonso he should abide by Ferrari's interests and not his own. When Jean Todt learned of this, he extended the contracts of both the team's drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen to the 2010 championship. The press first reported about his move to Ferrari in May 2008; no official conformation was expected to be made until 2009. Alonso obtained a mid-2009 agreement with Ferrari for a three -year contract to commence at the beginning of before it was moved to 2010 after Renault was investigated for race fixing at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Ferrari released Raikkonen to allow Alonso to drive for them. 2010–2011. He twice visited the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello in November 2009 to acquaint himself with the team's engineers and worked with them. Alonso had meetings with Domenicali and Di Montezemolo and observed wind tunnel testing of its 2010 car. He later had a seat fitting in the vehicle to make himself comfortable in regards to his overall height and weight on  19 January 2010. Bookmakers installed Alonso as the favourite to win the drivers' championship and he trained with the cyclist Samuel Sánchez and riders associated with Alberto Contador. His race engineer was Andrea Stella. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button of McLaren and the Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were Alonso's main championship competition. He won the season-opening and Ferrari favoured him over Massa after his teammate did not allow him past in Australia. Alonso fell 47 points behind after the British Grand Prix due to driver errors in China and Monaco and a slow  progression of development into the F10 of which he reportedly grew frustrated with. His second race victory came when Ferrari instructed Massa to let him win in Germany. Victories in Italy, Singapore and Korea and finishing in the top three each time thereafter allowed Alonso to enter the season-ending leading by eight points. He finished second to Vettei with 252 points after a strategy error by Ferrari left him behind and unable to pass Vitaly Petrov's Renault. Alonso remained at Ferrari for 2011. He vowed to lose about to compensate for the re-introduction of the kinetic energy  recovery system (KERS) that increased a car's weight and lowered its centre of gravity. The Ferrari 150º Italia was built conservatively and lacked aerodynamic grip and tyre handling for a qualifying session. Alonso extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win the . His best qualification of the season was a second at the and he qualified higher than his teammate Massa fifteen times Alonso was fourth overall with 257 points; strong finishes put him in contention to finish runner-up to eventual champion Vettel before Webber won the season-ending . 2012–2013. He stayed with  Ferrari for ; Alonso had signed a three-year contract extension in May 2011 to remain at Ferrari until . Ferrari worked to understand the F2012 and adapted his driving style to cope with a loss of rear aerodynamic downforce. Alonso stated he would enter the season with the championship in mind and forgot his performance from 2011: "I really believe in the skills we have here in Ferrari. We have to be optimistic. We have two months to get ready for the first race in Australia. We have to fight for this title, we have to get as many points as  possible at every race." His main competition for the championship was Vettel; Alonso won the and the and took points in the first eight rounds to hold a 20-point lead. He then took two pole positions in inclement weather in Britain and Germany and finished second and first respectively to extend his championship lead to 40 points. Thereafter collisions involving the Lotus cars of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Räikkönen in Belgium and Japan, an anti-roll bar failure during qualifying for the lost him a potential pole position and Vettel's improved performance eliminated Alonso's points lead; Alonso  entered the season-ending 13 points behind Vettel. He needed to finish third and for Vettel not to score points to win his third title. Alonso finished second in the race as Vettel came sixth; Alonso finished runner-up for the second time in his career with 278 points. He remained with Ferrari for . Alonso expressed confidence he could perform better due to the recruitment of aerodynamicists to Ferrari: "We can be faster or slower [than the others] but not 1.5 or two seconds off the pace, because it was a record what we had last year. It is maybe  impossible to be worse than last year, so I am confident." The Ferrari F138 was designed aggressively and Alonso won in China and Spain. He consistently accumulated points thereafter; Alonso was slower than Vettel after a change of tyre compounds at the and developmental frontal and rear bodywork components intended to improve his car's performance was ineffective. He was runner-up to Vettel for the third time in his career with 242 points. Alonso's relationship with Ferrari deteriorated midway through the year due to his perception the team could not construct a title-winning car. His manager Luis  Garcia Abad called a secret meeting with Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner in Hungary in late July to discuss Alonso joining them as teammate to Vettel for ; the move did not materialise and Alonso told the press after the he wanted "La macchina degli altri" (English: "Somebody else's car") as a birthday present, which led Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to reprimand him by telephone. The Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali was concerned Alonso would take a sabbatical in 2014; he had retained Alonso's teammate Massa for 2013 to keep him satisfied and re-signed Räikkönen to  the team as insurance had Alonso left. Alonso talked to Horner and the Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey in Belgium in late August about joining the team. No agreement was reached. 2014 and departure. Alonso stayed with Ferrari for 2014. He began preparing for the season in December 2013 with a session in the Ferrari simulator going through several ideas with the team's engineers to learn about how his car would behave on a race track. Alonso said he had additional motivation and optimism for the year ahead and would take a realistic approach due to reliability concerns : "I think this year everyone is more calm and everyone is a little bit more cautious about the possibility of finishing the race. But I think if we do everything right, we should be ready to do so and see finally where is our level of competitiveness." The Ferrari F14 T was slower than the Mercedes car and Alonso finished sixth overall with 161 points. He took a third-place finish at the and was second at the . Alonso had qualified better than Räikkönen sixteen times by an average of more than half a second per lap. Alonso had severe  disagreements with Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci in 2014. Mattiacci was keen to extend Alonso's contract and talked to him about remaining at Ferrari for a further three years until . Alonso sought an option to leave either after one or three years and Mattiacci delayed negotiation because he felt Alonso was not committed to Ferrari. Mattiacci wanted Sebastian Vettel to replace Alonso; he had favoured retaining Alonso of which di Montezemolo was unconvinced because of discussions he had held with Alonso in which the latter expressed disbelief that Ferrari would be competitive in . Alonso informed di Montezemolo he wanted  to leave and Mattiacci initially did not believe him. Flavio Briatore attempted to engineer a switch for Hamilton to move to Ferrari and Alonso drive for Mercedes. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, blocked it because he preferred to keep Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and felt Alonso would create dissonance. By this time, McLaren team principal Ron Dennis was interested in Alonso and he was convinced to join them rather than stay at Ferrari. He asked Ferrari for an early release from his contract and were ready to do so since Vettel had agreed terms with them. Briatore demanded Mattiacci  honour the agreement between Alonso and Ferrari to allow him to leave early if requested. Mattiacci told Briatore that Alonso had signed a contract with Ferrari until 2016 and did not have an early release clause. Briatore insisted this was invalid because of Alonso and di Montzemeolo's agreement. Alonso suggested he was prepared to stay with extra contractual amendments: the enactment of exit clauses to allow for his early release had he not been third overall at a specified cut-off date, a veto over Ferrari's choice of second driver and an option to select technical staff. Mattiacci  disagreed with all of the suggestions and asked Alonso to put extra commitment to Ferrari and not less. Alonso was angered by this because he disliked the suggestion of being less than fully committed. Between the races held in Singapore and Japan, Mattiacci said he would honour Alonso and di Montzemolo's agreement if Alonso did not want to continue on his current contract or extend it beyond 2016. A memorandum of understanding was suggested by Briatore for Alonso to sign in his belief Mattiacci would honour his wish. Mattiacci asked Alonso to travel to Maranelllo and sign it. Trigger  causes in Vettel's Red Bull contract needed to be activated before he could join so and not expose Ferrari as having signed three racers to drive two cars. Vettel's move to Ferrari was announced at the Japanese Grand Prix; This angered Alonso who believed he had no control over the narrative and argued with Mattiacci. Second stint with McLaren (2015–2018). McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said in September 2013 he would like to attract Alonso back to the team in place of Sergio Pérez and had approached him about a race seat. He set himself signing Alonso for  the 2015 season after an attempt at an exhibition in Madrid to sign him for the 2014 championship was unsuccessful. When Vettel's switch to Ferrari became public, Alonso had not signed a contract to rejoin McLaren. Dennis invited him to tour Honda's motorsport and technology headquarters in Sakura to acquaint himself with the manufacturer's board members one day after the Japanese Grand Prix. Alonso was convinced he had made the right decision, and McLaren announced his signing on 11 December 2014. He signed a three year-contract to the end of with no opt-out clauses. Dennis  re-signed Alonso because he believed the latter was "one of the best if not the best driver" in Formula One and had matured. 2015. At 12:35 Central European Summer Time (CEST) of the second day of a pre-season test session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February 2015, Alonso lost control of his McLaren MP4-30 at about and crashed into a right-hand side barrier at the exit of the track's third corner. He did not lose consciousness upon impact only going into that state when he was administered medication en route to the circuit 's medical centre by ambulance. After doctors checked his condition, he was airlifted by helicopter to the Hospital General de Catalunya (English: General Hospital of Catalonia) in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona forty minutes later, where he underwent CT and MRA scans which discovered that he had sustained a concussion. Alonso was released from hospital three days later on 4 March and recuperated at his home in Oviedo. Before the season-opening , he was subjected to tests to address his reflexes and undertook activities to determine the state of his memory. Doctors advised Alonso afterwards to miss the Australian race  to minimise the risk of second-impact syndrome. McLaren's test and reserve driver Kevin Magnussen replaced him in Australia. Alonso meanwhile requested to the McLaren team principal Éric Boullier that he be granted access to their interactive data system and was in daily conservation with Boullier. He went to the University of Cambridge on 22 March to undergo FIA-assessed memory examinations and reflex tests with three independent physicians to establish how much he had recovered. Alonso passed the tests. He was then required to meet Jean-Charles Piette, the FIA's medical delegate, and a chief medical officer  in Kuala Lumpur for an impact test, a 40-minute examination to analyse his race craft with comparisons of reaction and cognitive skill scores used from an earlier test. Alonso was passed fit to compete in the . He endured a difficult season as the McLaren-Honda package was unreliable and lacked straight-line speed. Alonso scored points twice during the year: a tenth-place at the followed by a fifth at the . He finished 17th in the drivers' championship with 11 points, five behind teammate Jenson Button. Alonso was dissatisfied with the lacklustre straight-line performance, which became evident after  multiple team radio complaints throughout the season. Alonso said he was frustrated at the team's reliability trouble and urged them to improve on it for 2016. 2016–2017. Despite the unreliable and noncompetitive car, Alonso drove for McLaren in 2016 after he told Dennis he would not go on a sabbatical. He said he was motivated to improve his form. At the first race of the season, the , Alonso hit the rear wheel of Esteban Gutiérrez's Haas at . He experienced a lateral deceleration before his car barrel rolled through 540 degrees and rested. A small pneumothorax on his lung  and minor rib fractures caused him to miss the Bahrain Grand Prix on medical grounds and was replaced by McLaren's reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne, whom he helped. Alonso out-qualified his teammate Jenson Button fifteen times and scored points nine times. His highest finish was a pair of fifth places at the and the , and he scored the fastest lap of the . Alonso finished tenth in the drivers' championship with 54 points, a marked improvement compared to 2016. He told employees at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking in December 2016 he would continue to drive for McLaren into  . Mercedes contacted Alonso soon after Nico Rosberg retired and he said he did not want to join them because he wanted to remain at McLaren until his contract expired. Éric Boullier was concerned Alonso would leave the team at the season's close. Alonso said he felt McLaren would be competitive and would be unaffected by the emotions of its employees. Poor reliability marred his 2017 season, especially during the early rounds. McLaren's engine power performance was lower than in 2016 and it made the McLaren MCL32 unstable at the rear. Alonso attained a season-high qualifying result of  seventh at the and set the 's fastest lap en route to sixth. After taking three consecutive points finishes in the last three races of the season, Alonso finished 15th in the drivers' championship with 17 points. Jenson Button drove his car at the , as he raced in the Indianapolis 500 that same weekend. Alonso was again dissatisfied with engine performance, leading him to publicly criticise the engine and inform Yusuke Hasegawa, the head of Honda's Formula One project, about the matter. Alonso contemplated leaving Formula One to focus on the Triple Crown of Motorsport. The McLaren chief executive  officer Zak Brown began negotiations to extend Alonso's contract early in 2017. Alonso considered McLaren's competitiveness in his decision and Brown noted other teams sought him. He declared he would seek another team had McLaren not convinced him it could win races in the 2018 championship and would decide whether or not to commit after the mid-season interval. The Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull teams were uninterested in Alonso and Brown spoke to him about the situation at the in July 2017. He rejected 60 percent of offers put to him from June to August and had  not considered the remaining 40 percent. After McLaren switched engine manufacturers from Honda to Renault from 2018 on, Alonso asked for his future in Formula One to be decided in October. He signed a multi-year extension with McLaren on 19 October. Alonso said they had put forward the most convincing argument and believed their chassis had been improved aerodynamically. 2018 and hiatus. He entered the 2018 season spending more time with his team when not driving, and anticipating possibilities for podium finishes and challenging Red Bull Racing. Alonso's best result was fifth at the season-opening , and he  finished in the top ten nine times throughout the season. He out-qualified his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne at every race. Alonso announced his retirement from the sport in August, and ended his Formula One career with six consecutive non-scoring finishes in the McLaren MCL33. He was 11th in the Drivers' Championship with 50 points. Alonso left Formula One as a driver at the end of the season, citing a perceived lack of on-track racing, the predictability of the finishing order and felt discussions away from racing about broadcasting radio messages and polemics harmed Formula One. Chief executive Chase  Carey and Liberty Media had attempted to convince Alonso to remain in the series before he decided against it. He remained at McLaren as a brand ambassador to aid and advise drivers and drove in select test sessions to develop the MCL34 and MCL35 cars. Alonso drove the MCL34 during a two-day in-season post-race Bahrain test in April 2019 to develop tyres for Pirelli. No further runs were planned for him and McLaren focused on their current drivers. Alonso's ambassador contract with McLaren expired at the end of 2019, and was not renewed for 2020. Alpine  (2021–). Alonso is driving for Alpine F1 Team for and contracted until the season. After Renault rebranded the teamname to Alpine from 2021 onwards. In October 2020 Alonso drove Renault's 2020 car, the R.S.20, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Because of the limited testing Renault opted to use their second filming day, which allows for of running of the current car on promotional Pirelli tyres. In November 2020 Alonso completed 2 days of testing. He drove 93 laps each day at the Bahrain International Circuit driving Renault's 2018 car the Renault R.S.18. He drove the R.S.18 again  during a 2-day test at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi completing 190 laps. In his first race with Alpine, Alonso was forced to retire after plastic debris entered his brake duct. At the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix he finished in P11 after qualifying P15, with teammate Ocon finishing ahead in P10, but both were upgraded one position after Kimi Räikkönen was penalised, giving Alonso his first points of the season. At the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso temporarily led the race before pitting and dropping to fourth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Teammate Ocon credited Alonso's  defence against Hamilton with enabling him to achieve his first race victory. In August 2021, Alonso invoked an option to extend his contract for the season. Alonso scored a third-place finish at the Qatar Grand Prix in November 2021, marking the Spaniard's first podium result in more than seven years and the 98th of his career. Endurance racing career. Alonso made his sports car endurance racing debut at the 1999 24 Hours of Barcelona. Paired with Antonio García, Salvi Delmuns and the journalist Pedro Fermín Flores, the quartet third in the M10 class and tenth overall in a  Hyundai Accent. Sixteen years later, Alonso was due to enter the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche's Le Mans Prototype 1 team before Honda blocked it. WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (2018–2019). In September 2017, Alonso told the McLaren chief executive offer Zak Brown he wanted to drive in the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Brown agreed to the idea and assigned Alonso to drive for United Autosports. Alonso entered the race because he sought a different challenge and spoke to García on what to expect. He drove a Ligier  JS P217 in a test session at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón on 21 November and driver Filipe Albuquerque advised him. Alonso, the sports car entrant Philip Hanson and McLaren's reserve driver Lando Norris qualified 13th and finished 38th after multiple mechanical issues affected the car during the race. Alonso returned to race in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona with Wayne Taylor Racing. He shared a Cadillac DPi-V.R with Kamui Kobayashi, Renger van der Zande and Jordan Taylor; the quartet completed 593 laps to win the rain-shortened event. FIA World Endurance Championship (2018–2019). Toyota was  interested in talking to potential drivers for its FIA World Endurance Championship team and Alonso knew the technical director Pascal Vasselon from Formula One. Brown discussed an entry for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with Alonso and was prepared to consent to a switch to another team if certain circumstances were met. Alonso and Toyota held talks and agreed to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He visited Toyota's factory in Cologne for a seat fitting in a TS050 Hybrid in November 2017. Toyota entered Alonso into a post-season rookie test at the Bahrain  International Circuit later that month to build momentum. In January 2018, McLaren and Toyota reached an agreement to allow Alonso to enter the full 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship to increase his motivation. He joined Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in Toyota's 8 TS050 Hybrid and replaced Anthony Davidson. 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. He adapted to driving the car and provided feedback to Toyota and his fellow drivers  on how to develop it mechanically and technically. He, Buemi and Nakajima took 198 points and the LMP1 Drivers' Championship with five victories including the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans over the eight round season, though this was enhanced by their teammates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López suffering a sensor issue while leading the 2019 6 Hours of Spa and then suffering a puncture while comfortably leading the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans with an hour remaining. Toyota was the only factory LMP1 team that season, and  the only to field hybrid cars. Alonso left the series afterwards to focus on other ventures. The two-time World Endurance champion and 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans co-winner Brendon Hartley replaced him. IndyCar Series. McLaren Honda Andretti (2017). Before the 2017 Australian Grand Prix, Zak Brown said to Alonso they should enter the 2017 Indianapolis 500 to which Alonso suggested he was joking. The idea later re-emerged in a conservation in Los Angeles and Alonso told Brown he was happy with the idea since McLaren had won it before. He and his manager Luis 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'." Brown then spoke to the IndyCar Series chief executive officer Mark Miles and discovered that there were no Honda-powered cars. Miles met the Andretti Autosport owner Michael Andretti, who got driver Stefan Wilson to agree to forego his planned entry in partnership with Michael Shank Racing and allow Alonso  to drive instead. Alonso was mentored by the 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran, and Michael Andretti was his strategist. He visited Andretti Autosport's headquarters in Indianapolis on 24 April for a seat fitting. Alonso was acquainted with his race engineer and Andretti Autosports technical director Eric Bretzman and the crew chief Dave Popielarz. He then spent time in Honda Performance Development's oval simulator under the supervision of De Ferran to prepare for the race. Driving the No. 29 McLaren-Honda-Andretti Dallara DW12, he completed a three-stage rookie orientation programme at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway  on 3 May. Alonso advanced to the Fast Nine shootout in qualifying and set the fifth-fastest four-lap average speed; in the race, he led four times for a total of 27 laps before his engine failed with 21 laps to go. Alonso was classified 24th. McLaren Racing (2019). McLaren began planning an entry for him in the 2019 IndyCar Series in August 2018 and would be supported by the series. Alonso tested a 2018-specification Andretti Autosport-entered Dallara DW12-Honda at the Barber Motorsports Park on 5 September. McLaren opted to enter just the 2019 Indianapolis 500  due to its focus on Formula One and collaborated with Carlin Motorsport in a logistical and technical partnership and signed an engine supply deal with Chevrolet. 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. Alonso did not qualify after Juncos Racing's Kyle Kaiser demoted him to 34th . Reasons included a dismantled spare car needed to assembled and flown from Carlin's factory after Alonso crashed in practice. An error converting inches to the American metric system caused his car to scrape along the tarmac surface and incorrect gear ratios slowed him. Arrow McLaren SP (2020). He will enter the 2020 Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren SP after an agreement with Andretti Autosports fell through. Alonso had a crash during practice. He qualified 26th. Alonso did manage to finish the race. He started 26th, was running 15th halfway through the race, and then ended up P21 and one  lap down because of a clutch issue. Meaning that at every pit stop the team needed to manual start the car. Other racing ventures. Alonso won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations Cup with the rally driver Jesús Puras and the motorcyclist Rubén Xaus for Team Spain. He returned to the Race of Champions Nations Cup in the 2002 event to join Puras and the MotoGP rider Carlos Checa in Team Spain; the trio were eliminated when Alonso lost to Jeff Gordon of the United States in his group heat race. He and the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion  Jimmie Johnson had an unplanned cultural exchange at the Bahrain International Circuit on 26 November 2018. Both drivers drove a McLaren MP4-28 and a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and compared them. Off-road racing. Alonso told Toyota he would like to enter the Dakar Rally and win it. Toyota was surprised and he said to them to "try at least". Toyota South Africa organised a two-day evaluation test for Alonso to acclimatise to rally raid conditions in a Toyota Hilux in South Africa's Kalahari Desert in March 2019 and was mentored by Giniel de Villiers. The manufacturer later  provided him a five-month training programme with tests in Africa, Europe and the Middle East and was entered into a series of events with the objective of developing his driving ability for a potential entry into the 2020 Dakar Rally. He raced in the Lichtenburg 400 in South Africa, the Rally du Maroc in Morocco and the Al Ula–Neom Rally in Saudi Arabia, with the five-time Dakar Rally bike class winner Marc Coma his co-driver. Alonso was third at the Al Ula-Neom Rally, which was his highest finish in three preparation events. Alonso finished 13th  on his Dakar Rally debut, posting a best stage finish of runner-up. A stop for repairs on the second stage and a roll on the 10th stage cost him several hours in the general classification. Racing record. Complete Formula One results. Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.