Fernando Alonso: El Nino of Spain and two-time world champion of Formula 1
The raw talent from Spain who was on the down side of advantage and relied purely on courage, made his way to the Formula 1 arena in the most unexpected fashion. Nicknamed El Nino, Fernando Alonso emerged as the youngest two-times world champion of
the sport, surrounded with controversies and scandals.
Currently a Ferrari driver, Alonso earned his way into the bigger teams through hard work and extraordinary talent. He is currently in his 11th championship season, but has struggled hard to achieve the glory that others can only dream
of. With exceptional talent come exceptional challenges which came his way right from the start of his Formula 1 career.
His junior performance will see his future secured in Formula 1. From the year 1993 to 1998, Alonso won four back to back Spanish championships, a Junior World cup, two Spanish title and Inter-A titles, before getting a recognition as a driver by the
Formula 1 team, Minardi.
Adrian Campos of Minardi saw a talent in the Spaniard and gave him a test drive in October 1998. Alonso impressed Campos with his lap times in just three days that his seat at Euro Open MoviStar by Nissan series was confirmed in 1999. Alonso won the
championship and later went on to test drive for the Minardi F1 team.
In the same year he went on to Formula 3000 series and joined the Team of Astromega. Alonso came fourth in the championship standings.
From there onwards, Spaniard stepped into the Formula 1 world and never looked back. He became the third youngest Formula 1 driver and debuted for Minardi team in the Australian Grand Prix. He never tasted glory with the lower ranked Minardi team,
but his performance certainly made him a topic in the higher ranked teams. Sauber were looking to give him a contract but instead signed Felipe Massa.
In 2002, he joined the Renault team as a test driver. In 2003 he got a driving seat in Renault when Jenson Button was dropped from the team. The Spaniard became the youngest pole sitter in the Malaysian Grand Prix. He finished the year sixth with 55
points and had his first controversial action when he and David Coulthard were involved in a bit of an overtaking battle.
For 2004, Spaniard remained with the Renault team and ended the season 4th with 59 points. The interesting fact about the 2004 season was his battles on the track with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher.
In 2005, Spaniard went on to win the title when he started the season with a third place finish in Australia. He went on to win 7 races and 15 podium finishes to become the youngest F1 champion of his time.
The Spaniard again had a great start to the 2006 season and went on to win the world drivers’ championship for second time in a row to become the youngest double F1 winner. From there onwards, his career hit controversies, but his performance was not
shadowed.
After joining the McLaren team for 2007, Alonso finished the season third behind his rookie teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Alonso was found guilty in connection with the test driver Pedro de la Rosa, that they breached the security level to get information
of the Ferrari team strategy in 2007. After that McLaren were disqualified from the constructors’ championship.
Alonso moved to the Renault team in 2008 and remained there until the 2009 season. He had an off two years with the slow car which included the crashgate controversy, after his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed his car in the 2008 Singapore Grand
Prix.
The Spaniard moved to the Ferrari team in 2010 and finished the season in second place just 4 points behind the winner, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull.
For 2011, he remains with Ferrari team as the season is underway. Although Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull has taken a substantial lead in the drivers’ championship, it remains to be seen whether Alonso can spring up a surprise in the remainder of the
season.
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