Fernando Alonso Diaz

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
If I had three wishes they would be....
My first wish would be to win the World Championship with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, the second wish would be to do it again and my final wish would be to be World Champion with the team a third time.

Which three things would you take to a remote island?
That is difficult, I wouldn’t take many things.We worry too much about personal items all the time so if I was on a desert island I would enjoy that and all I would need is some good company.

If you weren’t a racing driver what would you be?
I like all sports especially football and cycling so I would probably have pursued a career in either of these two sports.

What do you particularly love about Formula 1?
The cars; the speed of the cars; the way you need to drive these cars and the feelings that it gives you inside. It is just impossible to describe.

What cars do you own, and why did you choose those particular cars?
I have a Mercedes-Benz CLS for everyday use which is very nice. I also have a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren because I just think that it is the most beautiful car ever.

What would be your dream holiday destination?
I like Japan and enjoy spending time in Tokyo.

What do you do when you are not racing or testing?
I am at home, really relaxed.We live in a world where we are always running from one place to another and doing things, so when I have some free time I like to spend the whole time at home. I don’t go out for anything as I just want to relax.

What is your favourite race track?
I like Spa-Francorchamps because it has all types of corners and is a very technical and long track, which means over the course of one lap you feel a lot of things and this makes it very challenging and difficult.

Who is your hero?
I don’t have any heroes but I am a big fan of Miguel Indurain the famous Spanish cyclist.

Biography

Fernando Alonso Di­az (born on July 29, 1981 in Oviedo, Spain) is a Formula One racing driver, currently living in Oxford. On September 25, 2005 he won the World Driver's Championship title at the age of 24 years and 59 days, thus breaking Emerson Fittipaldi's record of being the youngest F1 champion, and ending Michael Schumacher's run of five consecutive championships.

Early years
Born Fernando Alonso Diaz (his full name includes his mother's maiden name as is Spanish custom) on July 29, 1981, in Oviedo in the Asturias province of northern Spain. His mother worked in a department store and his father was employed as an explosives expert in the mining industry. The Alonsos and their two children, older sister Lorena and Fernando lived comfortably but were by no means a wealthy family. Fernando's father Josà Luis, an amateur kart racer, wished to pass on his passion to his children. He built a pedal kart mimicking an F1 car. Originally the kart was meant for eight-year-old Lorena but she showed no interest in the sport. But her tiny three-year-old brother was eager to have a go. From the moment Fernando climbed into the tiny cockpit he immediately felt at home. And his determined and competitive spirit was already apparent at that young age.

From then on the young prodigy and his devoted father who also doubled as his mechanic, competed in karting competitions around Spain. While his entire family fully supported Fernando's increasingly successful hobby, his progress would require more funding than his family's limited resources could provide. It was difficult to acquire sponsorships and Fernando knew the only way to get the financial backings was to win races. Alonso won in almost every race he entered and was invariably the youngest. Age was never a hindrance as he easily won three Spanish Karting Titles (1994, 1996 and 1997); he raced in the European Kart championship, placing second and by his mid teens he was the World Junior Karting champion in 1996.

In 1999, Alonso made the jump to open-wheel cars, racing the Spanish Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan (his first and last season in the series) with the help of former Minardi F1 driver Adrian Campos. Then only 18 years old, he became the series champion, immediately earning him a ticket to Formula 3000 in 2000. A win at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps highlighted a very solid fourth place in the drivers championship, and Alonso was off for Formula One in 2001.

Formula One years
Alonso was often tipped to be Schumacher's natural successor, sharing some of his most impressive attributes. He is one of the few drivers capable of being on the pace every lap of every race and having the rare ability of driving around major problems while losing minimal lap time. Nicknamed 'Magic Alonso', Fernando has a good sense of humor and is known as one of the paddock's jokers.

2001
Alonso was the third-youngest driver to start a F1 race when he made his debut with Minardi at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. While the car was not highly competitive during his rookie season, Alonso occasionally out-qualified better-equipped opponents but failed to score a championship point.

2002-2003
His driving talents earned him a spot with the newly-founded Renault team in 2002 as a test driver (run by his manager, Flavio Briatore); the team groomed him to be a regular driver in 2003. With a much better car than in his first F1 stint and in only his second race for Renault, Alonso became the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One pole position at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix; he also became the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One race at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. At season's end, he was a solid sixth in the championship, with 55 points and four podiums.

2004
Alonso remained with Renault for the 2004 season but the difficult-to-drive R24 kept him out of the winner's circle. In the early part of 2004, though, questions were asked of Alonso when he was comprehensively out-qualified and out-raced by teammate Jarno Trulli. The situation would change towards the end of the year when Trulli suffered a mysterious lack of form after dropping Renault boss Flavio Briatore as his manager. Trulli's relationship with the team deteriorated to the extent that he signed for Toyota from 2005 onwards, and even left for his new team for the final 3 races of 2004. Though he had no wins, Alonso ended the year a career-best fourth in the championship standings, scoring 59 points and four podiums. He comprehensively outpaced his new teammate (1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, who replaced Jarno Trulli for the final three races of the season.)

2005
For the 2005 championship season, he was joined by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella. He finished third in the first race in Australia. In the second race of the season in Malaysia he got pole position and easily won the race. Alonso repeated this form in the season's third race, winning the Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position, and continued his good form with a close win over Michael Schumacher in the San Marino Grand Prix after an epic battle with the 7-time World Champion lasting about 13 laps. While he did not win his home grand prix he set the mark for the rest of the season, driving consistently to finish second after Kimi Räikkönen.

McLaren's improving form saw Räikkönen win again at Monaco while Alonso suffered from high tyre wear, though finishing fourth. One of the most memorable moments of the 2005 season was Räikkönen's spectacular exit from the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, granting the win to Alonso.

Alonso's run of good results came to an end at the Canadian Grand Prix, when he made a mistake and crashed into the wall at the Villeneuve corner, damaging his suspension, after coming under pressure from the McLarens of Juan Pablo Montoya and Räikkönen. It was his first retirement of the year.

At the United States Grand Prix, due to safety concerns over the Michelin tyres, Alonso, along with all the other Michelin drivers, did not start.

Alonso took his third pole position of the season at the French Grand Prix, and led the race from start to finish, winning his fifth race of the season. He followed this with pole position a week later at the British Grand Prix, where he finished a conservative second behind a McLaren-Mercedes, as Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya took his first victory of 2005.

McLaren's poor reliability granted another win to Alonso at the German Grand Prix when Kimi Räikkönen's car suffered a hydraulic failure. Alonso then celebrated his 24th birthday two days before the Hungarian Grand Prix but qualified only 6th and finished 11th and out of the points after a collision with the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher.

At the Turkish Grand Prix Alonso took 2nd place from Juan Pablo Montoya after the Colombian collided with Tiago Monteiro in the closing stages of the race. At Monza, Alonso qualified third and drove consistently to finish 2nd behind Montoya.

At the Belgian Grand Prix Alonso finished second, despite struggling with a car which was extremely difficult to drive due to a less than ideal set-up for the track conditions. He again made up a place in the closing stages after Antonio Pizzonia crashed into Montoya.

The 24-year-old Spaniard qualified on pole, but finished 3rd in the Brazilian Grand Prix to clinch the Driver's Championship title at the age of 24 years and 59 days old, thus breaking Emerson Fittipaldi's record of being the youngest F1 champion in history by about 18 months, and ending the 5-year dominance of Michael Schumacher. He had led the championship from the second race of the season.

Commenting on his victory he said:

"I just want to dedicate this championship to my family, and all my close friends who have supported me through my career. Spain is not a country with an F1 culture, and we had to fight alone, every step of the way, to make this happen. A huge thank-you should also go to the team as well - they are the best in Formula One, and we have done this together. It will say that I am world champion, but we are all champions - and they deserve this."
The Japanese and Chinese Grands Prix saw Alonso abandon the conservative style evident in Brazil when he was still chasing the championship title and Renault closed the performance gap considerably. Jordan's commercial director Ian Phillips described Alonso's overtaking manoeuvre around Schumacher at Suzuka as one of the best of all time at this grandiose circuits. Starting from 16th on the grid, he eventually finished third behind race-winner Räikkönen (who started from 17th on the grid, and clinched victory with a last-lap pass on Fisichella) and Renault team-mate Fisichella. The Chinese Grand Prix saw Renault and Alonso win to claim the 1st Constructor's Championship for the Renault F1 Team.

Fernando's success has spawned "Alonsomania" in Spain, as he has become the country's first Formula One World Champion. He is now as famous as Real Madrid's Galactico players.

Proponents of Kimi Räikkönen argue that he has been the best driver of the 2005 season despite having the same number of victories (7) as the Spaniard. Without the reliability issues Räikkönen might have won the Drivers' Championship. However most commentators agree that Alonso fully deserves the title, dominating the early part of the season while McLaren struggled and driving consistently since then to capitalise on Räikkönen's problems.

2006
 
Alonso started the season with a close win over Michael Schumacher at the Bahrain Grand Prix, overtaking the German after coming out of the pitlane, with 18 laps left. He had qualified fourth but was able to win after overtaking Massa and edging Schumacher out after his last pit stop.

He qualified a disappointing 7th at the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a fueling error but was able to ultimately finish 2nd to team mate Giancarlo Fisichella after an excellent start, overtaking four cars, and with a better race pace than Jenson Button.

Fernando beat Kimi Raikkonen to victory in Australia after he overtook Leading Jenson Button's Honda.

After a poor qualifying (by their past standards) for both Renaults at San Marino, Fernando Alonso was unable to pass Michael Schumacher for the majority of the race due to the track's lack of overtaking opportunities (after the race, it was revealed that most of Schumacher's lack of pace was a cunning tactic to force the Renault team to pit Alonso earlier, therefore giving Schumacher the lead). Renault attempted to seize the lead with a tactical pitstop in order to pre-empt Ferrari but a clear in-lap for Michael, coupled with traffic for Alonso's out-lap, meant that the seven-times world champion was able to leave the pit lane seconds before Alonso could pass him. Faltering performance on Alonso car (attributed to the fact that it had already competed in the Australian GP) and the tightness of the San Marino circuit allowed Schumacher to win the race in a dramatic reversal of the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix.

At the 2006 European Grand Prix Alonso got the pole position ahead of Schumacher, and was suspected to have classified with less fuel than in previous grand prixes. However, this turned out to be inaccurate, as the Spaniard pitted only two laps ahead of Schumacher in the first stint. He was able to come ahead of his rival that time. However, in the second stint Schumacher pitted several laps later and emerged 5.5 seconds ahead of Alonso. Those possitions were kept until the end of the race, with Felipe Massa finishing third and Kimi Raikkonen fourth, both just after Alonso, as Raikkonen had been pressuring Massa in the final laps and imposed a faster pace.

On May 14, 2006, he won the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix after a dominant performance through the whole race, becoming the first Spaniard to win the Spanish Grand Prix.

He achieved his 12th victory and 12th pole position in the Monaco Grand Prix, the latter several hours after the qualifying session had concluded. Michael Schumacher was sanctioned by the stewards for "deliberately stopping his car on the circuit in the last few minutes of qualifying", preventing his rivals, Alonso included, from probably getting the fastest lap in qualifying. During the race, Alonso was mainly threatened by Kimi Raikkonen, who was running very close to him for much of the race, and Mark Webber who looked set to challenge for the lead in the next round of pit stops, but both suffered mechanical problems that prevented them from finishing the race. These mechanical failures allowed Fernando Alonso to cruise to his first victory at Monaco.

2007
On December 19, 2005, before the 2006 season started, Fernando Alonso and McLaren principal Ron Dennis had already announced that Fernando would be moving to McLaren for 2007. For some, this immediately put some doubt on whether he would perform well with Renault in 2006, given that they might not throw their full support behind a driver who they knew was going to leave them at the end of the season. Others saw it as a sign that Renault was pulling out of Formula 1 at the end of 2006. However, Alonso's overall performance, and Carlos Ghosn's announcement that Renault would stay committed to Formula 1 beyond the end of the year has just about put an end to those rumours.

Laurels

He has been awarded the 2005 Prince of Asturias Award of Sports, the youngest to receive the prize. Also, recently before the closing of the 2005 season, retired three-times F1 title holder Niki Lauda, hailed Alonso as:

"perfect, the most complete performer in Formula One today and thoroughly deserving of becoming the 2005 world champion. Yet I also have to say that Alonso is extraordinary. The more pressure he has the better he drives. I've never seen any driver of that age so completely composed and consistent. OK, so he made one slip at Montreal [when he hit the wall] but, speaking for myself, I reckon that I would have made many more mistakes if I'd been in that position at that age. I cannot find a single weakness in Alonso from any viewpoint. He's obviously a huge asset to the Renault team but more importantly a huge asset to the sport as a whole. I think he is perfect."
While he was managing the Brazilian team in the inaugural race of the A1 Grand Prix at Brand's Hatch, Emerson Fittipaldi was asked to comment on his feelings about possibly losing the record to Alonso, to which he replied, "In him [Alonso], I know that my record is in safe hands."