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About Fernando Alonso - |
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Fernando Alonso was introduced to motor sport at a young age by his father. He quickly established himself as a star of the future between the ages of 13 and 18, by winning numerous local, regional and national championships throughout Spain. Subscribe to our free RSS Feed and get all the latest Formula 1 information. |
However, Alonso's success was not just confined to Spain as he won the World junior title in 1996 at the age of 15 and later finishing second in the senior European Championship two years later. This success prompted him to move into car racing at the earliest opportunity. Fernando Alonso jumped straight into the Spanish-based Formula Nissan series, where he incredibly won the title at his first attempt. In this season he notched up six wins, nine poles and eight fastest laps. Due to his success he earned himself a drive with the Minardi F1 team, where he would attract the attention of the Benetton manager Flavio Briatore. Under the mentorship of Paul Stoddart, Alonso flourished in the under financed team by out-performing both team-mates Tarso Marques and Alex Yoong. His tenth place finish at the German Grand Prix, and top qualifying of 17th in the USA did not go unnoticed. With this in mind, Briatore quickly took his protégé under his wing at Renault before anyone else did. However, the next year was difficult for Fernando Alonso as he found himself sidelined for that of another young and up and coming youngster, Jenson Button. However, in 2003 Fernando Alonso got his chance in F1 by teaming up with Jarno Trulli on his return to action. It did not take him long to get into the swing of success as he took his first pole and podium in only the second race of the season at Malaysia. Other success included his second place in Barcelona, but this was under shadowed by at the age off 22 he became the youngest driver to win a F1 race. His victory in Hungary was more impressive due to the way he drove. He dominated the race from start to finish and even was able to put a lap on current World Champion Michael Schumacher on the way to his maiden win. Fernando Alonso finished sixth in the championship with fifty-five points, twenty-two points more than his experienced team mate. Fernando Alonso onsolidated his position in 2004 as he scored points in twelve of the 18 races, including three podiums - in France, Germany and Hungary. At the end of the year he came fourth with 59 points. Renault went into the 2005 season having marked itself out as potential title contenders in pre-season testing, and so it proved, with new team mate Giancarlo Fisichella winning the opening round with Fernando Alonso following up with a hat-trick in Malaysia, Bahrain and San Marino. These wins helped Fernando Alonso to stretch out an early lead. Despite coming under pressure from Kimi Raikkonen, wins at the Nurburgring, Magny Cours and Hockenheim meant that he never lost the initial lead he had gained. At the Brazilian Grand Prix Fernando Alonso became the youngest F1 World Champion at the age of 24. At the end of the 2005 season Fernando Alonso totaled with 133 points taking seven wins, and scoring in every Grand Prix race apart from Canada. Fernando Alonso will remain with Renault in 2006 to defend his crown and judging by his form in 2005, he will be hard to beat. However recently he has made a surprise decision that he will join his current rivals (McLaren-Mercedes) in 2007. This move might seem to be a huge gamble, however, from past actions it could prove a vital step in his way to challenging Michael Schumacher's dominance in history. |
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