Fernando Alonso on askmen.com

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Biography

Brought into this world on July 29, 1981, in Oviedo, Spain, Fernando Alonso was born to compete. His father, Jos Luis Alonso, had always longed to be a go-kart driver and tried to pass this passion on to his two children. First, he built a kart for his 8-year-old daughter Lorena, but she never got into the sport. As a result, the kart was passed on to 3-year-old Fernando, who immediately took to racing.

 

young fernando alonso learns to race

 

During the first two years of driving the kart, Fernando and his family thought of it as just a game, something the young boy would do to pass time and amuse himself. At 6 years old, however, Jos began to notice his son's aptitude for racing, and so he fine-tuned the kart to get it ready for competitions. By 1988, Alonso had begun dominating the junior kart leagues, going from circuit to circuit on the weekends and after school.

 

fernando dominates in catalan championship

 

By the time he was 12, Fernando's budding career as a kart driver had become so serious that his family could no longer afford to send him to races far away from their home, or even afford the materials required by Fernando's more powerful cars. Thus, the Alonsos sought support and, after Fernando dominated a race in the Catalan Championship, they found a team willing to take on the young driver.

 

From then on, Alonso graduated to more serious racing as IAME -- a famous world karting name -- took charge of his career. Alonso won the Junior Spanish Championship in 1994 and then began traveling throughout Europe, competing in ultra-competitive karting leagues. To offset the cost of his travels (despite the help from IAME), Alonso earned cash as a mechanic for drivers even younger than himself.

 

fernando alonso moves to formula nissan

 

In 1996, Alonso became the World Junior Karting champion after taking home several wins, and then won the Spanish and Italian legs of the championship the following year. In the meantime, former Formula 1 driver Adrian Campos had taken notice of Alonso's talents and gave the lad a chance to graduate to Formula 1 racing. By 1998, Fernando got a handle on racing with gear shifting and, in 1999, he graduated to the Formula Nissan circuit.

 

fernando alonso with astromega

 

Amazingly, it took no time for Alonso to learn the ropes of Formula Nissan, and he quickly dominated race after race. He won the league championship in his first year, and his managers decided to elevate him to the next step, Formula 3000, by 2000. With the Astromega team, Alonso accomplished and learned a lot, though he did not dominate as he had in previous leagues. Still, his performance in 2000 was enough to allow him to move on to Formula 1, the world stage of racing.

 

fernando alonso races for minardi

 

Debuting with Minardi in 2001, Fernando Alonso became the third-youngest driver in Formula 1 history to start a race when he made his debut at the Australian Grand Prix. Though Alonso did not earn any points during his rookie season, he showed promise, as he occasionally outraced opponents who had the privilege of driving superior cars.

 

fernando alonso sets records with renault

 

After paying his dues with Minardi, Alonso moved on to the Renault team. As the French F1 team already had two established drivers in its lineup, Alonso became a test driver in 2002. Renault groomed Alonso to become its top driver, which is what he became the following year. That season, Fernando showed flashes of brilliance, becoming the youngest pole winner ever at the Malaysian Grand Prix and the youngest winner ever at the Hungarian Grand Prix. After reaching the podium four times, Alonso finished an impressive sixth overall at the end of the season.

 

Though he did not win any races in 2004, Alonso one-upped himself by finishing fourth overall in the standings, again reaching four podiums. Renault was poised to improve its overall performance in 2005 and so, with a determined Alonso leading the way, the team immediately made its imprint as Alonso emerged victorious in the second and third races of the season.

 

fernando alonso wins points and grand prix

 

Fans worldwide have recognized Alonso's skills and as such, "Alonsomania" has swept over Spain and other parts of Europe. And Fernando hasn't let his ever-growing fan base down, he continued to dominate during the 2005 season and went on to become the youngest champion in F1 history.