A detailed profile of Ferrari F1 driver Fernando Alonso – Formula 1
Fernando Alonso is a Spanish Formula 1 driver who currently races for the Ferrari team. He is the holder of two world F1 championships.
The driver started his racing career at a very young age of 3. He competed in many Kart races and was strongly supported by his father who also helped him by becoming his mechanic despite the fact that the family was not financially stable enough to carry
on a racing career. He won the world Karting championship in 1996. He made his debut in Formula 1 world when he joined the Minardi team in 2001.
In 2002, he continued to race but transferred to Renault and worked with them for the next four years. In 2005, he won his first ever F1 championship after winning seven Grands Prix that season and battling with Kimi Raikkonen who was driving a quicker
McLaren at that time. He was only 24 years old and was the youngest champion of that time. He won the title next year again by remaining dominant in the first half of the season while he fought a tough battle with Michael Schumacher.
In 2007, Alonso joined the McLaren team but he remained under speculation for not being able to get along with teammate Lewis Hamilton so he quit following a mutual decision with the team. He returned with his previous team Renault from 2008 to 2009. He
then joined Ferrari in 2010 and continues to drive for them as he is running second in 2012 F1 drivers’ championship giving a tough competition to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. His race points have also helped Ferrari reach second standing in the constructors’
championship.
In his eleven year career, he has finished 84 times on the podium while scoring 1331 race points. He has entered 196 Grands Prix in total. His career has also been surrounded with various controversies. One of the most famous of them has been dubbed by
the media as ‘Crashgate’ where Renault was allegedly accused of ordering Alonso’s teammate of that time, Nelson Piquet, Jr., for causing a crash so as to deploy a safety car which Alonso might be able to use to his advantage.
Despite all the odds, Alonso has been able to make a good career and his fan following is known as the Alonso mania. He has also been given the nickname of El Nano which is pseudonym for his actual name Fernando in place of his birth, Asturias. He is also
working as the good will ambassador of UNICEF. When he won his first championship in 2005, he started a programme where the study of Motorsport of Business for Social Science was introduced. The programme is helping to finance twelve students from all over
the world.
Besides having a determined passion for driving Formula 1 cars, he is also interested in other sports that include tennis, cycling and football. He has also demonstrated his skills at showing card tricks which he usually reveals during the race weekends.
He is avid listener of music and also run his own Business Alonso-kart which sells various kinds of Karting parts.
The current season has turned out to be a good one for the driver as he remained dominant for most of the season but lost his lead after Vettel won the Korean Grand Prix. His team is working hard so as to provide him the best car to catch up to Vettel since
only two more races remain before the new champion is announced.
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