Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with Renault, and has won Grands Prix across 23 seasons. In endurance racing, Alonso won the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota as well as a winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019 with WTR. He is the only driver to have won both the Formula One World Drivers' Championship and the World Sportscar/World Endurance Drivers' Championship.

Born and raised in Oviedo to a working-class family, Alonso began kart racing aged seven and won the CIK-FIA Five Continents Cup in 1996. He progressed to junior formulae aged 17, winning the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 before finishing fourth in International Formula 3000. Alonso signed for Minardi in , making his Formula One debut at the . After a non-scoring rookie season, he joined Renault as a test driver before his promotion to a full-time seat in ; he became the then-youngest polesitter and race winner at the Malaysian and Hungarian Grands Prix, respectively, before achieving several podiums across his campaign. Alonso won his maiden title after winning seven Grands Prix in , becoming the first World Drivers' Champion from Spain and the then-youngest in Formula One history, aged 24. He successfully defended his title from Michael Schumacher in . Alonso moved to McLaren for , finishing one point behind champion Kimi Räikkönen and returning to Renault amidst inter-team tensions. He won multiple races in —including the controversial Singapore Grand Prix—before enduring a winless campaign.

Alonso signed for Ferrari in , finishing runner-up to Sebastian Vettel by four points in the third-placed F10. He took a single victory in as Red Bull consolidated their advantage, before finishing runner-up to Vettel again in and —the former by three points and the latter in the third-placed F138. After a winless season amidst new engine regulations, Alonso returned to McLaren under Honda power in . He remained with the team until the end of , resulting in limited success, before his first retirement. Alonso then moved into sportscar racing with Toyota, winning the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice. He returned to Formula One in with Alpine, recording his first podium in seven years at the , and breaking the record for most career starts in . Alonso moved to Aston Martin for his campaign, achieving several podiums as he finished fourth in the World Drivers' Championship; he scored his 100th career podium at the . In , he became the first driver to contest 400 Grands Prix.

As of the , Alonso has achieved race wins, pole positions, fastest laps, and podiums in Formula One. Alonso is contracted to remain at Aston Martin until at least the end of the 2026 season. In addition to holding the most race starts , his longevity has broken several Formula One records. Alonso won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations' Cup, and entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He runs a driver management firm and has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2005. Alonso has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit and twice been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame.

Early life and karting career 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, Alonso has an elder sister, Lorena, who is a doctor.

Alonso's father wanted a hobby to share with his children and built a go-kart for Lorena. She was uninterested in karting and a three-year-old Alonso received the kart. The kart's pedals were modified for drive-ability, The family lacked the finances required to develop him in karts; Alonso devised three timing sectors going to school to improve himself daily. His mother sewed his racing overalls and adjusted them as he grew; she also ensured Alonso was academically well off.

Aged seven, Alonso won his first kart race in Pola de Laviana. He won the 1988 and 1989 children's junior Championship of the Asturias and Galicia, and progressed to the Cadet class in 1990. Go-kart importer Genís Marcó was impressed by Alonso and mentored him; He spoke to the six-time Karting World Champion Mike Wilson, who gave Alonso a test session at a track in Parma.

Alonso won the 1990 Asturias and the Basque Country Cadet Championship and finished second in the 1991 Spanish Cadet National Championship. For 2000, he progressed to the higher-tier International Formula 3000 Championship with the Minardi-backed Team Astromega, Alonso finished second at the Hungaroring and won the season-ending round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for fourth overall with seventeen points. He was Minardi's test and reserve driver in before joining its race team in . Alonso's best result of the season was a tenth-place finish in the and scored no points for 23rd overall. Alonso worked with the engineering department to improve Giancarlo Fisichella's and Jenson Button's performance, and tested in Spain and the United Kingdom. He drove a Jaguar in an evaluation session against test drivers André Lotterer and James Courtney at the Silverstone Circuit in May 2002. Alonso was promoted to the Renault race team for . He achieved four podium finishes in 2003 and was sixth in the World Drivers' Championship with 55 points. Alonso had an improved season: he finished the season-opening in third position and took three more podium finishes that year. He took pole position for the but achieved no race victories en route to fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 59 points. Alonso eclipsed Emerson Fittipaldi as the youngest World Drivers' Champion, having won seven victories, six pole positions and fourteen podium finishes for 133 points altogether. Bookmakers installed Alonso as the favourite to retain the Drivers' Championship. His primary competition was Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher. Alonso won six of the first nine races and finished no lower than second to lead the championship with 84 out of a possible 90 points. Alonso won the championship by finishing second and was Formula 1's youngest double World Champion. Alonso's contract with Renault expired on 31 December 2006, and he was not granted an early release for sponsorship reasons. Renault allowed Alonso to make his first appearance for McLaren in a test session at the Circuito de Jerez in November 2006. His main competitors in 2007 were his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Räikkönen at Ferrari. Alonso achieved four Grand Prix victories in Malaysia, Monaco, Europe and Italy and led the championship until Hamilton overtook him. Prior to the season's final round, the , he had 103 championship points to Räikkönen's 100 and Hamilton's 107, and needed to win the race and for his teammate to finish third or lower for his third title. Alonso finished the event third for third overall with 109 points. He had the same number of points as Hamilton; the tie was broken on count-back as Hamilton finished second more often than Alonso.

Alonso took a controversial victory at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, after his teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr., was ordered to crash deliberately.

Throughout the season, Alonso and Hamilton were involved in a number of incidents, such as the espionage scandal and the flare-up during qualifying for the when Hamilton disobeyed a team instruction, thus disadvantaging Alonso, and Alonso responded by delaying Hamilton in the pit lane. The tensions culminated in Alonso and McLaren terminating their contract by mutual consent in November. Alonso was forbidden from joining a team whom McLaren considered their primary challengers for . After rejecting offers from several teams, he signed a two-year contract to rejoin Renault from 2008 because of the manufacturer's long-term commitment to F1 and on-track record. Alonso's car lacked power early on due to an imposed moratorium in development and he scored nine points in the first seven races. He was thereafter able to improve his performance later due to aerodynamic developments to the car's and won in Singapore and Japan; He scored 61 points for fifth in the Drivers' Championship. After offers from Red Bull Racing and Honda, he re-signed to Renault on a two-year contract. His car proved to be noncompetitive because it lacked a dual diffuser system and outright speed. Alonso eschewed an aerodynamic front wing mandated in an attempt to make overtaking more possible since he did not believe it would help him. Alonso won pole position for the and led the first twelve laps before he retired following an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel. Alonso was ninth in the Drivers' Championship with 26 points, Alonso obtained a mid-2009 agreement to drive for Ferrari from on but it was moved to 2010 after Renault were investigated for race fixing in Singapore and Räikkönen was released from the team. McLaren's Hamilton and Button and Red Bull's of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were Alonso's main championship competition. He won five races that season and entered the season-ending leading by eight points after being 47 behind mid-season following errors. Alonso finished runner-up to Vettel after finishing seventh thereby losing nineteen points to Vettel who won the race.

Alonso's 2011 season was mixed: his car was built conservatively and lacked aerodynamic grip and tyre handling in qualifying. He extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win the after a strategy error from Red Bull. His best qualification of the year was a second at the and he out-qualified his teammate Massa fifteen times over the course of the season. Alonso was fourth overall with 257 points; he was in contention to finish second to eventual champion Vettel following a series of strong finishes until Webber won the season-ending .

Ahead of , Alonso extended his contract with Ferrari until . His main competition for the title in 2012 was Vettel. Wins in Malaysia, Valencia and Germany and consistent points-scoring finishes allowed him to build a 40-point lead in the Drivers' Championship. Thereafter start-line collisions, a mechanical failure and an improved performance for Vettel eliminated Alonso's points lead. Alonso entered the season-ending 13 points behind Vettel and needed to finish third and for Vettel not to score points for a third championship. He was slower than Vettel after a change of tyre compound at the and front and rear bodywork components intended to improve his car's performance were ineffective. With 242 points, Alonso was second for the third time in his career.

Alonso's 2014 season saw him achieve no race wins because his car was less powerful than the championship-winning Mercedes but took third in the and second in the . Alonso fell to sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 161 points. An accident during a pre-season test session at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February 2015 saw Alonso sustain a concussion and he was replaced by reserve driver Kevin Magnussen for the season-opening . He endured a difficult season: his car's Honda engine was under-powered and overall speed leaving him vulnerable to being passed. Alonso scored points twice in 2015: a tenth in the and a fifth in the for seventeenth in the Drivers' Championship with eleven points.

Despite the unreliable and noncompetitive car, Alonso remained with McLaren for . Injuries from a heavy crash with Esteban Gutiérrez at the season-opening caused him to miss the on medical grounds and was replaced by reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne. He qualified better than teammate Button fifteen times and scored points nine times, which included two fifth-place finishes in the and the . He was tenth in the Drivers' Championship with 54 points. but poor reliability affected his season, particularly during the early rounds, and his best finish was a sixth place in the . After three consecutive top-ten finishes, Alonso finished fifteenth in the Drivers' Championship with seventeen points. Alonso signed a multi-year extension with McLaren on 19 October 2017. He finished fifth at the season-opening 2018 and took nine top-ten finishes. Alonso was eleventh in the Drivers' Championship with fifty points,

Alonso remained at McLaren as a brand ambassador to aid and advise drivers and drove in select test sessions to develop their 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 (2021–2022)

Alonso was signed to drive for Alpine F1 Team for the season, alongside Esteban Ocon, with Renault having rebranded the team under its new name. In preparation for his F1 return, Alonso performed four testing days driving the Renault R.S.18 and was quickest in the post-2020 season young driver's test driving the Renault R.S.20 for Renault. In his first race with Alpine at the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso was forced to retire after plastic debris entered his brake duct. At the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix he finished in eleventh after qualifying fifteenth, with teammate Ocon finishing ahead in tenth, but both were upgraded one position after Kimi Räikkönen was penalised, giving Alonso his first points of the season.

In Hungary, Alonso temporarily led the race before he made a pit stop and fell 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 points in multiple races following the summer break, finishing sixth in the Netherlands, eighth in Italy, sixth in Russia, having run in third in Russia before being forced to pit under wet conditions, and third in Qatar. Alonso achieved his highest start driving for Alpine during wet qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, starting in second, but had to endure questionable strategies and an engine issue that developed during the race. He dropped down to seventh, and furthermore, received a post-race time penalty that dropped him down to ninth.

Aston Martin (2023–present)

Alonso joined Aston Martin on a multi-year deal in alongside Lance Stroll. He joined the team because he wanted a multi-year contract extension, and Alpine was only willing to give him one more year in F1.

On his Aston Martin debut at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso, benefitting from the much-improved machinery of the Aston Martin AMR23, recovered from a first-lap contact with his teammate Lance Stroll without any damage and went on to finish in third place, securing a podium finish and Aston's first since Sebastian Vettel's podium at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (the German would finish second at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix but would be disqualified due to insufficient fuel sample). Despite having to serve a penalty due to his car being off-position at the starting grid, he finished in third again at the following race at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix; this marked his 100th podium, making him the sixth driver to have scored one-hundred podiums in his career. Following the race, he was issued another ten-second penalty due to serving the first one improperly at his pit stop, dropping him to fourth behind George Russell; however, the team's appeal was accepted and the second penalty was reversed, keeping his podium.

Alonso finished in third once again after a chaotic Australian Grand Prix; the third and final restart of the session saw his car make contact with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr., causing the latter driver to receive a five-second penalty; due to this, Sainz would be classified in last place out of the finishing cars. Alonso's car was undamaged. Alonso agreed with Sainz's criticisms of the penalty, stating that it was "too harsh". The Aston Martins were plagued with DRS issues during qualification of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, going on to qualify eighth in the new "sprint shootout" qualification and sixth for the main qualification session; he would finish sixth in the sprint race, and fourth in the main race. It was at this point in time the car had dropped in performance, failing to secure podiums on a consistent basis, though he took two podium finishes at Zandvoort, where he recorded his first fastest lap since the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, and São Paulo; the latter instance edging out Sergio Pérez by 0.053 seconds. After a seventh-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso ended the season fourth in the standings, scoring 206 points against his teammate Stroll's 74. Alonso's fourth position in the standings was his highest finish since .

Alonso remained with Aston Martin for the 2024 season. He secured his best finish of the season at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he qualified fourth and finished fifth. At the following race in Australia, he was issued a 20-second post-race penalty for potentially dangerous driving while defending against George Russell on the penultimate lap. The stewards ruled that Alonso had lifted and braked unusually early into Turn 6 causing a massive closing speed that caused Russell to lose control and crash. The penalty dropped Alonso to eighth. At the Chinese Grand Prix Alonso retired from the sprint race following a puncture from contact with Carlos Sainz. Stewards again deemed Alonso at fault, handing him a ten-second penalty and three penalty points that brought his total to six within a single month. At the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, Alonso competed in his four-hundredth Grand Prix weekend, becoming the first driver to reach this number of races. Alonso finished the season 9th in the standings, scoring 70 points against Stroll's 24.

On his third season with Aston Martin at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, Alonso’s campaign began poorly as the AMR25 struggled for pace. Alonso retired after crashing on lap 34 while his teammate Lance Stroll secured a sixth-place finish. This difficult start persisted through the early rounds of the season where the car lacked the performance of its predecessor, leaving Alonso scoreless and sitting 17th in the standings by May. A significant upgrade package introduced at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix began to turn his season around as Alonso qualified 5th but finished 11th courtesy of a poorly-timed virtual safety car. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, he finished in fifth place, his highest result of the 2025 campaign. This momentum carried into the second half of the season, where he scored in most rounds from Zandvoort to Abu Dhabi. In both Singapore and Qatar Alonso finished in seventh. After a P7 finish at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso ended the 2025 season 10th in the Drivers' Championship with 56 points compared to Stroll’s 33.

Alonso began his 2026 campaign with two retirements at Australia and China, before placing 18th in Japan, the team's first finish of the season. The AMR26, the first Aston Martin and only car on the grid to be powered by a Honda engine, suffered from reliability issues and lacked pace, causing a very poor start to the season. Alonso was able to score Aston Martin's first points of the season at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, after Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez both received a ten-second penalty, which resulted in Alonso's promotion to tenth place. Alonso scored two further points with a ninth place finish at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix.

Endurance racing 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 finished third in the M10 class and tenth overall in a Hyundai Accent. 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)

The Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R driven in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona (pictured at the 2017 Petit Le Mans).

Alonso drove a Ligier JS P217 entered by United Autosports in the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Alonso, Philip Hanson and McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris qualified thirteenth 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) Alonso driving a Toyota TS050 Hybrid at the 2018 6 Hours of Silverstone.

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. In January 2018, McLaren and Toyota reached an agreement to allow Alonso to enter the full 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship. (The owners of the Fuji Speedway, which organised the 6 Hours of Fuji, had a request granted for its race to be moved back by a week to allow Alonso to compete in the event and avoid a date clash with the 2018 United States Grand Prix.) He joined Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in Toyota's 8 TS050 Hybrid.

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, Buemi and Nakajima won 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. Alonso left the series at the end of the season.

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 conversation in Los Angeles, when Alonso told Brown he was happy with the idea since McLaren had won it before. He and his manager 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.

Driving the No. 29 McLaren-Honda-Andretti Dallara DW12, Alonso 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; 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 from the American imperial system to the British metric system caused his car to scrape along the tarmac surface and incorrect gear ratios slowed him.

Arrow McLaren SP (2020) Alonso entered the 2020 Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren SP after an agreement with Andretti Autosports fell through. He had a crash during practice and qualified 26th. He did manage to finish the race. He started 26th, was running fifteenth halfway through the race, and then ended up 21st and one lap down because of a clutch issue causing the team to manually start the car during every pit stop.

Off-road racing Alonso entered the Dakar Rally with Toyota in 2020 following a five-month testing programme in Africa, Europe and the Middle East and driving a series of races to better himself. 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. With co-driver Coma, he finished the Dakar in thirteenth position with a best stage finish of second place. A stop for repairs on the second stage and a roll on the tenth lost him several hours in the general classification.

Driving style

Alonso is often regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers in the history of the sport. Journalists and fellow drivers regarded Alonso as a fast and consistent driver who can extract additional pace from a car in all weathers and on all tracks. Former racing driver and Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle described Alonso as "Senna-like in his intimate feel for where the grip is" and cited the driver's knowledge on how much grip to use for the entry to a turn. This opinion is shared by Christian Horner, who ruled out signing Alonso for Red Bull, as he caused chaos in previous teams.

Alonso's experience increased his awareness of events around him and competitors in a race and adjusted his situation to focus on the drivers' championship. Alonso is an all-round driver who can mount an apex and correct a sliding car to go faster. He is careful in finding the ideal feeling with his brakes and can apply the maximum amount of force with a fast response time. Alonso's physical strength contrasts his braking skill and regularly exceeded that limit without overdoing it on multiple conditions.

Helmet and career number

Alonso's helmet manufactured by Bieffe (2001), Arai (2003–2009, 2016), Schuberth (2010–2015) Bell (2017–) sports the yellow and red colours of the flag of Spain with shades of blue from the Asturias flag and coupled with two silver thunderbolt arrows derived from a remote control car he received as a present in his childhood on top and a yellow Asturian cross (sometimes on the back, other times on the side). He changed its mainbase colour design when switching teams during his F1 career; in 2008 Alonso attached two pictures of a spade, ace and heart symbol to show he was a two-time world champion.

For three successive Monaco Grand Prix from 2011 to 2013 and at the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix, he wore a gold and white coloured helmet to replace the blue and yellow. At the following 2013 Indian Grand Prix, Alonso sported a white helmet to celebrate his total number of career points scored up to the preceding Japanese Grand Prix of 1571 and with the words "F1 points World Record" accompanied with a thank you message in English, French and Italian.

Alonso's final event for Ferrari at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw him wear a helmet with a picture depicting a pit stop in that year in the colour red, signature of various team members and the flag of Italy in the centre. At the 2017 Indianapolis 500 and the 2017 United States Grand Prix, Alonso sported a black helmet with red, yellow and blue stripes around it and his race number. He revised the livery for the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona to white instead of black and had no stripes around the front. The back had the layout of the Daytona International Speedway and continued to have his usual blue, red and yellow colours. His helmet for the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was divided equally between the flag of Spain on the right with a blue-checkered pattern around its side. The yellow on that area was replaced by gold between two horizontal stripes in red and a thick vertical strip was added with a list of Alonso's 32 F1 race victories.

For the 2014 season, the FIA created a new regulation allowing drivers to select specific car numbers for use throughout their F1 career. Alonso requested the number 14 for it has been his lucky number since his world karting championship victory in a kart with number 14, at the age of 14, on 14 July 1996.

Driver management Alonso operates a driver management company, A14 Management. A14 Management manages a portfolio of young drivers across several motorsport disciplines. As of 2025, this included Maximilian Günther, Clément Novalak, Nikola Tsolov, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pepe Martí, Sebastián Montoya, Chloe Chambers, Cenyu Han, Andrés Cárdenas, and Carl Bennett.

Image and impact Nate Saunders of ESPN writes that Alonso "is one of the most eloquent speakers in F1 and one of the best at interacting with the media". He occasionally uses press conferences with the press to cultivate particular narratives of a story, convey himself as controlling the F1 driver market or as the one with knowledge of facts of a situation. with Chris Jenkins of USA Today describing him as shy.

Alonso's public persona has been noted as being different from his private personality. Fellow Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr. claimed "there are two Fernandos", alluding to Alonso's defensive nature when criticised because of his shyness, compared to his sense of humour, generosity and kind-nature when not racing. and a voice command assistant in the Spanish dub of Cars 3 (2017).

Journalist Nigel Roebuck calls Alonso "the first world-class racing driver to come out of Spain", He was Personality Media's favourite male athlete with a 99 per cent recognition rating amongst the Spanish public in 2015; in the latter part of his F1 career, Alonso was within the top two most popular drivers in the Grand Prix Drivers' Association fan surveys of 2010, 2015 and 2017.

The Fernando Alonso Sports Complex in Oviedo was opened in June 2015 and features a CIK-FIA compliant karting track featuring 29 layouts. A museum dedicated to his racing career, the 'Museo y Circuito Fernando Alonso', opened in the same year, featuring Alonso's race cars, helmets, overalls, and memorabilia.

Endorsements and philanthropy

Alonso has done business with Banco Santander, Cajastur, TAG Heuer, Europcar, Silestone, Liberbank, ING, Chandon, Adidas, and Bang & Olufsen. He is the founder and brand ambassador of the fashion retailer Kimoa, and intended to establish the Fernando Alonso Cycling Team to compete in UCI events in 2015 before the project failed to materialise. (The leaked Paradise Papers stated Alonso's manager Luis García Abad founded and constituted the Revolution Holdings Limited for the team on the Mediterranean island of Malta.) Documents released to the Spanish media revealed the Directorate-General for the Treasury knew about its existence and accounts. As a result of Alonso's endorsement money and F1 salary, he has been listed as one of the world's highest-paid athletes by Forbes every year from 2012 to 2018. The magazine named him motorsport's top-earning driver from June 2012 to June 2013, one of 2016's top earning international stars, and one of 2017's highest-paid international and European celebrities. Alonso also featured on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2008 and 2017. In 2020, Alonso was sponsored by Ruoff Mortgage for his Indianapolis 500 attempt. In 2025, Alonso became brand ambassador for Flexicar, a Spanish used-vehicle retailer, as part of the company's corporate rebranding.

Alonso was appointed director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) along with Mark Webber and Ralf Schumacher. He held that post from 2006 to 2010.

In November 2017, Alonso established the FA Racing G2 Logitech G eSports racing team of which he is the team principal and competes in virtual online racing championships on multiple platforms. The team dissolved in 2018 and launched another in partnership with FA Racing and Veloce Esports in March 2019. Alonso's team has also competed in the F4 Spanish Championship, Formula Renault Eurocup and karting. He is an investor and board member of the eSports multi-racing platform Motorsport Games.

The UNICEF Spanish Committee named Alonso a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in February 2005 to promote and defend children's rights and awareness of UNICEF. Alonso promoted India's efforts to eradicate polio in 2011 and handwashing with soap to school children in 2012, whilst he also supported UNICEF's anti-cyberbullying campaign in November 2017. Alonso founded the Fundación Fernando Alonso in 2007 to promote motor racing and road safety education.

Awards and honours Alonso received the 2003 Autosport Gregor Grant Award for winning the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. He also won the Princess Cristina National Sports Award for sporting newcomer in that year. Alonso was named the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy's recipient in April 2005. From October 2005 to May 2006, he received 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 for winning the 2005 F1 World Championship.

Alonso was named the 2006 Autosport International Racing Driver of the Year. Alonso was voted the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year for his performance in the 2017 Indianapolis 500. This made Alonso the first driver to have been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame twice. He was engaged to Spanish television presenter Lara Álvarez from 2015 to 2016. Alonso dated Italian model Linda Morselli from 2016 to 2021. His partner, journalist Melissa Jiménez, gave birth to his first child in March 2026.

Alonso supports the Real Madrid and Real Oviedo football teams, and is a cycling enthusiast. He is tall. In addition to his native Spanish, Alonso speaks English, French, and Italian. His personal garage includes such cars as the McLaren P1, Ferrari 458 Italia, Nissan GT-R, and Honda NSX.

Alonso has been trained by Fabrizio Borra and Edoardo Bendinelli during his career.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record Racing career summary

Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; small number indicates the finishing position)

Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance. Season still in progress.

American open-wheel racing results IndyCar Series Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points Ref 2017 McLaren-Honda-Andretti 29 Dallara DW12 Honda STP LBH ALA PHX IMSINDY DET DET TXS RDA IOW TOR MDO POC GTW WGL SNM 29th 47 2019 McLaren Racing 66 Chevrolet STP COA ALA LBH IMSINDY DET DET TXS RDA TOR IOW MDO POC GTW POR LAG – 0 2020 Arrow McLaren SP TXS IMS ROA ROA IOW IOW INDY GTW GTW MDO MDO IMS IMS STP 31st 18

Indianapolis 500

24 Hours of Daytona

24 Hours of Le Mans results Most classified finishes 361 2023 Dutch Grand Prix Longest time between first and last starts 2022 Monaco Grand Prix Longest time between first and last fastest laps 7,686 days 2023 Dutch Grand Prix Longest time between first and last points finishes 8,568 days 2024 Canadian Grand Prix Longest time between first and last podium finishes 7,532 days 2023 Dutch Grand Prix Most races between successive podium finishes 105 2021 Qatar Grand Prix Furthest distance driven in F1 2022 British Grand Prix Most laps driven in F1 23,684 laps 2023 Italian Grand Prix

Notes and references