Fernando Alonso has produced some iconic moments throughout his Formula 1 career which includes over 400 starts, so F1 Oversteer is looking into the best moments over the years including his first win and pole position.
The Spaniard won the world-karting championship in 1996 and then made his F1 debut in 2001 with the Minardi team.
In the non-competitive car, Alonso’s best result of the season was a tenth-place finish at the German Grand Prix. He scored no points and finished 23rd overall in the season, before progressing to Renault as a test driver in 2002.
Alonso would later go on to join McLaren in 2007, then Ferrari in 2010, before going back to McLaren in 2015. After a brief sabbatical – in which he won two Le Mans 24-hour races – Alonso moved to Alpine briefly in 2021 and is now at Aston Martin.
The Spaniard is expected to finish his career at the team owned by billionaire Lawrence Stroll, after Alonso recently signed a contract extension with Aston Martin that takes him through to 2026.
Where did Fernando Alonso make his Formula 1 debut?
Alonso made his F1 debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix with the Minardi team. Having impressed in the junior ranks, he caught the eye of Minardi owner Paul Stoddart who ran him in his team alongside Tarso Marques.
Fernando Alonso took his first pole position in Formula 1 at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
After being promoted to the race team in 2003, Alonso went on to break a number of records including the youngest driver to achieve a pole position. It happened at the second race of the 2003 season in Malaysia, where he achieved pole by 0.173s off teammate Jarno Trulli.
When did Fernando Alonso take his first podium finish in Formula 1?
Alonso would later go on to achieve his first podium at the Malaysia race, finishing in third place behind Rubens Barrichello and eventual race winner Kimi Raikkonen.
He broke the record for being the youngest driver to lead a race at 21 years old, with the previous record having remained since 1951.
Where did Fernando Alonso win his first F1 Grand Prix?
With him already earning ‘future world champion’ status, Alonso built on the strong start to his 2003 season by becoming F1’s youngest race winner at the Hungarian Grand Prix at just 22 years old and 26 days.
Alonso was leading the race by over 10 seconds after the first four laps, and after briefly giving up his lead to Raikkonen in the McLaren, the Spaniard pressed on and managed to beat the Finn by 16.7 seconds for a landmark victory.
Not only was he the youngest-ever F1 winner, but he was also the first driver to win a race from Spain after the country had not seen any success in F1. Only Fon de Portago’s second place at the 1956 British GP had been the closest Spain had come to a race winner.
Where did Fernando Alonso secure his first Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship?
Alonso took his first title in 2005 while driving for Renault. The iconic blue and yellow paint scheme on the R25 became an iconic look that would define Alonso’s career at the team.
During the season he won seven races and took 15 podiums out of a possible 19 races, having only finished outside the points at the Hungarian, Canadian and US Grands Prix.
Not only was Alonso the first Spanish driver to win a world championship, but it was the first time any driver had won with a Renault engine since the Williams FW19 in 1997.
Alonso would go on to achieve a second successive title victory in 2006, which would be his last at Renault.
Fernando Alonso has produced iconic drivers in his F1 career
Ever since his first year at the back of the grid with Minardi to his rollercoaster years with Ferrari and torrid second stints at Renault and McLaren, Alonso’s career has featured a plethora of impressive drives.
By far his most iconic drive was at the 2012 European Grand Prix when Alonso started from 11th place and managed to win the race. In a Ferrari that wasn’t as quick as its rivals, Alonso managed to get into th top six in the early stages of the race.
Alonso worked his way up to fourth when a well-timed safety car enabled him to pass Lewis Hamilton for third. He would later pull off an overtake on Romain Grosjean for second, before being handed the lead when Sebastian Vettel retired with an alternator failure.
The Spaniard’s emotions after the race summed up just how unexpected the race win was, but it was his consistency that enabled Alonso to triumph in front of his home crowd.
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