Fernando Alonso

This Spanish Formula One driver Fernando Alonso was born on July 29, 1981 in the city of Oviedo, which is located in the northern region of Asturias.

Alonso is of course known for all his victories in karting and Formula One, but mostly for the speed with which he managed to find his way to the highest branch of motorsport.

• In Spain, a country with no Formula One tradition, his successes have led to a real “Alonsomania” and Fernando Alonso is a national hero.
• A funny detail is that the Asturian flag has the same colors as the Renault team, light blue and yellow. The grandstands were totally transformed into a sea of light blue spectators during the Spanish Grand Prix.

At age three, Alonso was already a fan of cars. His father built a little car for his eight-year-old sister, but she found it anything but interesting. For little Alonso, on the other hand, it was love at first sight. He started karting and by age six it was clear that it was not just a hobby. Then came his first victories: in 1988 in Pola Liviana where he won the children's championship and two years after that, the then nine-year-old Alonso won the youth championships in Asturias and the Basque Country.

Until 1998, Alonso was active in karting and by then had many victories to his name. In 1999, he made the switch to single-seaters and immediately became champion of Spain at the Nissan Euro-Open Series. A year later, Alonso drove for the Astromega team in the international Formula 3000 championship. After this season, Alonso signed a Formula One contract with the Minardi team and makes his debut in the Australian Grand Prix on March 4, 2001, as the third youngest F1 driver in history. During his time at Minardi he wins nothing, but he often outperforms other drivers during qualifying runs, so he joins Renault as a test pilot in 2002 and is promoted to full pilot in 2003.

As a Formula One driver with Renault, he gets his first podium finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix, third place, and a few weeks later he is second, behind Michael Schumacher at the Spanish Grand Prix. In August, he does finish first at the Hungarian Grand Prix and eventually scores points in 12 of 18 Grand Prixs which is ultimately good for fourth place in the final standings of the world championship.

The Youngest Formula One World Champion

2005 and 2006 were the heyday of the Formula One driver. In 2005, at the age of 24, Alonso became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. Starting in 2006, things don't go so well but in 2012 and 2013 Alonso finishes in second place in the world championship. Alonso has been driving for Scuderia Ferrari since 2011 and is currently fourth in the world championship. At the last circuit in Bahrain, Ferrari did not do very well. The next Grand Prixs are in China, Monaco and Barcelona. “From there we should do better and take podium places,” Alonso said. Ferrari has the resources, the potential and they control everything. We will see!