A detailed look at the career of Spaniard Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso is one of the shining stars of Formula 1 and has a great fan following around the world.
He has won two world championship titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 and became the youngest ever to do so.
Since his childhood, Alonso had developed love for car racing. In 1988, Alonso won his first junior kart race and became the junior champion of the region by winning all the eight races in which he participated. In 1990, Alonso won two regional championships.
In 1995, Alonso secured third position after he participated in the International Karting Championship. In 1996, he won the title of International Junior World Champion and his streak continued to 1997.
In 1998, Alonso was the runner up in the European Karting Championship. In 1999, he dominated in the Euro-Open Movistar Nissan single-seater series by securing 9 poles and 6 wins and made his way to the championship victory. Later in 2000, Alonso moved to
the Formula 3000 with Astromega team. He scored a challenging victory at Spa-Francorchamps circuit and finished the championship in fourth place.
In 2001, Alonso started his Formula 1 career with Minardi and was the third youngest driver ever to start a race.
In 2002, Alonso was made the official test driver of Renault. In 2003, Flavio Briatore, manager of Renault handed Alonso the race seat. In the next 12 months, Alonso became the youngest driver ever to set a fastest lap and achieving pole position. With the
win in Hungary, in the same year, he made himself the youngest ever winner of GP. Since then the rise of the star has been incredible.
In 2005, Fernando Alonso won the Formula 1 drivers’ championship just at the age of 24 years and became the youngest driver ever to win a world championship beating Kimi Raikkonen who was in a faster McLaren. In 2006, Alonso dominated with Renault in the
first half of the season by winning six out of first nine races and remained successful in defending his drivers’ title from a strong challenger, Michael Schumacher.
In 2007, in the first season with McLaren, Alonso scored four win but his relationship with the team got worse after the Ferrari’s spy scandal issue. Therefore, he made his come back to Renault in 2008 after quitting from McLaren. In 2008, Alonso scored
back-to-back victories towards the end of the season and finished fifth in the championship.
In 2009, after scoring an unexpected pole in Hungary with the less competitive Renault car, Alonso retired from the race when he lost the wheel following a mismanaged pit shop.
In 2010, Alonso signed a contract with Ferrari. Despite five wins in the season, he missed out the title due to poor pit strategy in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In 2011, the car remained out driven and obviously inferior to Red Bull Racing and
McLaren resulting in the third place overall in the constructors’ championship.
Although Alonso and his team are making endeavours for the upcoming season of 2012 but in order to make it a great success, it will take more working than talking for both the team and the Spanish driver, especially for developing a firm understanding and
making improvements in technical aspects of the new Ferrari car.
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