Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
29.07.1981 (43 years) (Oviedo, Asturias, Spain)
Fernando Alonso Díaz (Spanish pronunciation: [feɾˈnando aˈlonso ˈði.aθ] (listen); born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 2005 and 2006 for the Renault team. He is often regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers in the history of the sport. Away from Formula One, he is a champion of the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 and 2019 with Toyota. Alonso also won the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona for Wayne Taylor Racing. 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 later progressed to car racing, winning the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 and was fourth in the International Formula 3000 Championship of 2000. He debuted in Formula One with Minardi in 2001 before joining Renault as a test driver for 2002. Promoted to a race seat in 2003, Alonso won two drivers' championships in 2005 and 2006 from Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher, respectively. After a third-place finish with McLaren in 2007, he returned to Renault from 2008 to 2009 and won two races in the former year to place fifth overall. Alonso then drove for Ferrari from 2010 to 2014. He finished runner-up to Sebastian Vettel three times in tightly-contested title duels in 2010 and 2012 and again in 2013. A second stint with McLaren from 2015 to 2018 did not result in further success due to an uncompetitive car. Overall Alonso won 32 Formula One races, 22 pole positions and 1,899 points from 311 starts. He was the first Spanish Formula One driver to win the World Championship and was the youngest one-time and two-time drivers' champion at the time of his successes. Alonso also held the records of the youngest pole position sitter and race winner. He won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations Cup with the rally driver Jesús Puras and the motorcyclist Rubén Xaus for Team Spain and twice entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 and 2019. Alonso's achievements have won him the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, the Premios Nacionales del Deporte Sportsman of the Year Award and the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit and has twice been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame. He runs an eSports and junior racing team and is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.