Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with Renault, and has won Grands Prix across 23 seasons. In endurance racing, Alonso won the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota as well as a winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019 with WTR. He is the only driver to have won both the Formula One World Drivers' Championship and the World Sportscar/World Endurance Drivers' Championship.
Born and raised in Oviedo to a working-class family, Alonso began kart racing aged seven and won the CIK-FIA Five Continents Cup in 1996. He progressed to junior formulae aged 17, winning the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 before finishing fourth in International Formula 3000. Alonso signed for Minardi in , making his Formula One debut at the . After a non-scoring rookie season, he joined Renault as a test driver before his promotion to a full-time seat in ; he became the then-youngest polesitter and race winner at the Malaysian and Hungarian Grands Prix, respectively, before achieving several podiums across his campaign. Alonso won his maiden title after winning seven Grands Prix in , becoming the first World Drivers' Champion from Spain and the then-youngest in Formula One history, aged 24. He successfully defended his title from Michael Schumacher in . Alonso moved to McLaren for , finishing one point behind champion Kimi Räikkönen and returning to Renault amidst inter-team tensions. He won multiple races in —including the controversial Singapore Grand Prix—before enduring a winless campaign.
Alonso signed for Ferrari in , finishing runner-up to Sebastian Vettel by four points in the third-placed F10. He took a single victory in as Red Bull consolidated their advantage, before finishing runner-up to Vettel again in and —the former by three points and the latter in the third-placed F138. After a winless season amidst new engine regulations, Alonso returned to McLaren under Honda power in . He remained with the team until the end of , resulting in limited success, before his first retirement. Alonso then moved into sportscar racing with Toyota, winning the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice. He returned to Formula One in with Alpine, recording his first podium in seven years at the , and breaking the record for most career starts in . Alonso moved to Aston Martin for his campaign, achieving several podiums as he finished fourth in the World Drivers' Championship; he scored his 100th career podium at the . In , he became the first driver to contest 400 Grands Prix.
As of the , Alonso has achieved race wins, pole positions, fastest laps, and podiums in Formula One. Alonso is contracted to remain at Aston Martin until at least the end of the 2026 season. In addition to holding the most race starts (), his longevity has broken several Formula One records. Alonso won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations' Cup, and entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He runs a driver management firm and has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2005. Alonso has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit and twice been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame.
Early life and karting career
Alonso was born on 29 July 1981 to a working-class family in Oviedo, Asturias, Northern Spain. He is the son of the mine shaft explosives factory mechanic and amateur kart driver José Luis Alonso, and his wife, Alonso has an elder sister, Lorena, who is a doctor.
thumb|left|The first go-kart driven by Alonso, which his elder sister did not want to drive
Alonso's father wanted a hobby to share with his children and built a go-kart for Lorena. She was uninterested in karting and a three-year-old Alonso received the kart. The kart's pedals were modified for drive-ability, The family lacked the finances required to develop him in karts; Alonso devised three timing sectors going to school to improve himself daily. His mother sewed his racing overalls and adjusted them as he grew; she also ensured Alonso was academically well off.
Aged seven, Alonso won his first kart race in Pola de Laviana. He won the 1988 and 1989 children's junior Championship of the Asturias and Galicia, and progressed to the Cadet class in 1990. Go-kart importer Genís Marcó was impressed by Alonso and mentored him; He spoke to the six-time Karting World Champion Mike Wilson, who gave Alonso a test session at a track in Parma.
thumb|left|The go-kart Alonso drove to win the [[Karting World Championship in 1996]]
Alonso won the 1990 Asturias and the Basque Country Cadet Championship and finished second in the 1991 Spanish Cadet National Championship. For 2000, he progressed to the higher-tier International Formula 3000 Championship with the Minardi-backed Team Astromega, Alonso finished second at the Hungaroring and won the season-ending round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for fourth overall with seventeen points. He was Minardi's test and reserve driver in before joining its race team in . Alonso's best result of the season was a tenth-place finish in the and scored no points for 23rd overall. Alonso worked with the engineering department to improve Giancarlo Fisichella's and Jenson Button's performance, and tested in Spain and the United Kingdom. He drove a Jaguar in an evaluation session against test drivers André Lotterer and James Courtney at the Silverstone Circuit in May 2002. Alonso was promoted to the Renault race team for . He achieved four podium finishes in 2003 and was sixth in the World Drivers' Championship with 55 points. Alonso had an improved season: he finished the season-opening in third position and took three more podium finishes that year. He took pole position for the but achieved no race victories en route to fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 59 points. Alonso eclipsed Emerson Fittipaldi as the youngest World Drivers' Champion, having won seven victories, six pole positions and fourteen podium finishes for 133 points altogether. Bookmakers installed Alonso as the favourite to retain the Drivers' Championship. His primary competition was Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher. Alonso won six of the first nine races and finished no lower than second to lead the championship with 84 out of a possible 90 points. Alonso won the championship by finishing second and was Formula 1's youngest double World Champion. Alonso's contract with Renault expired on 31 December 2006, and he was not granted an early release for sponsorship reasons. Renault allowed Alonso to make his first appearance for McLaren in a test session at the Circuito de Jerez in November 2006. His main competitors in 2007 were his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Räikkönen at Ferrari. Alonso achieved four Grand Prix victories in Malaysia, Monaco, Europe and Italy and led the championship until Hamilton overtook him. Prior to the season's final round, the , he had 103 championship points to Räikkönen's 100 and Hamilton's 107, and needed to win the race and for his teammate to finish third or lower for his third title. Alonso finished the event third for third overall with 109 points. He had the same number of points as Hamilton; the tie was broken on count-back as Hamilton finished second more often than Alonso.
thumb|left|Alonso took a controversial victory at the [[2008 Singapore Grand Prix, after his teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr., was ordered to crash deliberately.]]
Throughout the season, Alonso and Hamilton were involved in a number of incidents, such as the espionage scandal and the flare-up during qualifying for the when Hamilton disobeyed a team instruction, thus disadvantaging Alonso, and Alonso responded by delaying Hamilton in the pit lane. The tensions culminated in Alonso and McLaren terminating their contract by mutual consent in November. Alonso was forbidden from joining a team whom McLaren considered their primary challengers for . After rejecting offers from several teams, he signed a two-year contract to rejoin Renault from 2008 because of the manufacturer's long-term commitment to F1 and on-track record. Alonso's car lacked power early on due to an imposed moratorium in development and he scored nine points in the first seven races. He was thereafter able to improve his performance later due to aerodynamic developments to the car's and won in Singapore and Japan; He scored 61 points for fifth in the Drivers' Championship. After offers from Red Bull Racing and Honda, he re-signed to Renault on a two-year contract. His car proved to be noncompetitive because it lacked a dual diffuser system and outright speed. Alonso eschewed an aerodynamic front wing mandated in an attempt to make overtaking more possible since he did not believe it would help him. Alonso won pole position for the and led the first twelve laps before he retired following an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel. Alonso was ninth in the Drivers' Championship with 26 points, Alonso obtained a mid-2009 agreement to drive for Ferrari from on but it was moved to 2010 after Renault were investigated for race fixing in Singapore and Räikkönen was released from the team. McLaren's Hamilton and Button and Red Bull's of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were Alonso's main championship competition. He won five races that season and entered the season-ending leading by eight points after being 47 behind mid-season following errors. Alonso finished runner-up to Vettel after finishing seventh thereby losing nineteen points to Vettel who won the race.
Alonso's 2011 season was mixed: his car was built conservatively and lacked aerodynamic grip and tyre handling in qualifying. He extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win the after a strategy error from Red Bull. His best qualification of the year was a second at the and he out-qualified his teammate Massa fifteen times over the course of the season. Alonso was fourth overall with 257 points; he was in contention to finish second to eventual champion Vettel following a series of strong finishes until Webber won the season-ending .
thumb|left|Alonso at the [[2012 German Grand Prix]]
Ahead of , Alonso extended his contract with Ferrari until . His main competition for the title in 2012 was Vettel. Wins in Malaysia, Valencia and Germany and consistent points-scoring finishes allowed him to build a 40-point lead in the Drivers' Championship. Thereafter start-line collisions, a mechanical failure and an improved performance for Vettel eliminated Alonso's points lead. Alonso entered the season-ending 13 points behind Vettel and needed to finish third and for Vettel not to score points for a third championship. He was slower than Vettel after a change of tyre compound at the and front and rear bodywork components intended to improve his car's performance were ineffective. With 242 points, Alonso was second for the third time in his career.
Alonso's 2014 season saw him achieve no race wins because his car was less powerful than the championship-winning Mercedes but took third in the and second in the . Alonso fell to sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 161 points. An accident during a pre-season test session at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February 2015 saw Alonso sustain a concussion and he was replaced by reserve driver Kevin Magnussen for the season-opening . He endured a difficult season: his car's Honda engine was under-powered and overall speed leaving him vulnerable to being passed. Alonso scored points twice in 2015: a tenth in the and a fifth in the for seventeenth in the Drivers' Championship with eleven points.
thumb|Alonso at the [[2016 Monaco Grand Prix]]
Despite the unreliable and noncompetitive car, Alonso remained with McLaren for . Injuries from a heavy crash with Esteban Gutiérrez at the season-opening caused him to miss the on medical grounds and was replaced by reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne. He qualified better than teammate Button fifteen times and scored points nine times, which included two fifth-place finishes in the and the . He was tenth in the Drivers' Championship with 54 points. but poor reliability affected his season, particularly during the early rounds, and his best finish was a sixth place in the . After three consecutive top-ten finishes, Alonso finished fifteenth in the Drivers' Championship with seventeen points. Alonso signed a multi-year extension with McLaren on 19 October 2017. He finished fifth at the season-opening 2018 and took nine top-ten finishes. Alonso was eleventh in the Drivers' Championship with fifty points,
Alonso remained at McLaren as a brand ambassador to aid and advise drivers and drove in select test sessions to develop their cars. Alonso drove the MCL34 during a two-day in-season post-race Bahrain test in April 2019 to develop tyres for Pirelli. No further runs were planned for him and McLaren focused on their current drivers. Alonso's ambassador contract with McLaren expired at the end of 2019, and was not renewed for 2020.
Alpine (2021–2022)
thumb|Alonso at the [[2021 Austrian Grand Prix, upon his return to Formula One]]
Alonso was signed to drive for Alpine F1 Team for the season, alongside Esteban Ocon, with Renault having rebranded the team under its new name. In preparation for his F1 return, Alonso performed four testing days driving the Renault R.S.18 and was quickest in the post-2020 season young driver's test driving the Renault R.S.20 for Renault. In his first race with Alpine at the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso was forced to retire after plastic debris entered his brake duct. At the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix he finished in eleventh after qualifying fifteenth, with teammate Ocon finishing ahead in tenth, but both were upgraded one position after Kimi Räikkönen was penalised, giving Alonso his first points of the season.
In Hungary, Alonso temporarily led the race before he made a pit stop and fell to fourth, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Teammate Ocon credited Alonso's defence against Hamilton with enabling him to achieve his first race victory. In August 2021, Alonso invoked an option to extend his contract for the season. Alonso scored points in multiple races following the summer break, finishing sixth in the Netherlands, eighth in Italy, sixth in Russia, having run in third in Russia before being forced to pit under wet conditions, and third in Qatar. Alonso achieved his highest start driving for Alpine during wet qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, starting in second, but had to endure questionable strategies and an engine issue that developed during the race. He dropped down to seventh, and furthermore, received a post-race time penalty that dropped him down to ninth.
Aston Martin (2023–present)
thumb|left|Alonso at the [[2023 Austrian Grand Prix, with Aston Martin]]
Alonso joined Aston Martin on a multi-year deal in alongside Lance Stroll. He joined the team because he wanted a multi-year contract extension, and Alpine was only willing to give him one more year in F1.
On his Aston Martin debut at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso, benefitting from the much-improved machinery of the Aston Martin AMR23, recovered from a first-lap contact with his teammate Lance Stroll without any damage and went on to finish in third place, securing a podium finish and Aston's first since Sebastian Vettel's podium at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (the German would finish second at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix but would be disqualified due to insufficient fuel sample). Despite having to serve a penalty due to his car being off-position at the starting grid, he finished in third again at the following race at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix; this marked his 100th podium, making him the sixth driver to have scored one-hundred podiums in his career. Following the race, he was issued another ten-second penalty due to serving the first one improperly at his pit stop, dropping him to fourth behind George Russell; however, the team's appeal was accepted and the second penalty was reversed, keeping his podium.
thumb|Alonso at the [[2024 Chinese Grand Prix, with Aston Martin]]
Alonso finished in third once again after a chaotic Australian Grand Prix; the third and final restart of the session saw his car make contact with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr., causing the latter driver to receive a five-second penalty; due to this, Sainz would be classified in last place out of the finishing cars. Alonso's car was undamaged. Alonso agreed with Sainz's criticisms of the penalty, stating that it was "too harsh". The Aston Martins were plagued with DRS issues during qualification of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, going on to qualify eighth in the new "sprint shootout" qualification and sixth for the main qualification session; he would finish sixth in the sprint race, and fourth in the main race. It was at this point in time the car had dropped in performance, failing to secure podiums on a consistent basis, though he took two podium finishes at Zandvoort, where he recorded his first fastest lap since the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, and São Paulo; the latter instance edging out Sergio Pérez by 0.053 seconds. After a seventh-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso ended the season fourth in the standings, scoring 206 points against his teammate Stroll's 74. Alonso's fourth position in the standings was his highest finish since .
left|thumb|Alonso at the [[2024 Dutch Grand Prix]]
Alonso remained with Aston Martin for the 2024 season. He secured his best finish of the season at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he qualified fourth and finished fifth. At the following race in Australia he was issued a 20-second post-race penalty for potentially dangerous driving while defending against George Russell on the penultimate lap. The stewards ruled that Alonso had lifted and braked unusually early into Turn 6 causing a massive closing speed that caused Russell to lose control and crash. The penalty dropped Alonso to eighth. At the Chinese Grand Prix Alonso retired from the sprint race following a puncture from contact with Carlos Sainz. Stewards again deemed Alonso at fault, handing him a 10-second penalty and three penalty points that brought his total to six within a single month. At the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, Alonso competed in his four-hundredth Grand Prix weekend, becoming the first driver to reach this number of races. Alonso finished the season 9th in the standings, scoring 70 points against Stroll's 24.
thumb|Alonso at the [[2025 Italian Grand Prix]]
On his third season with Aston Martin at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, Alonso’s campaign began poorly as the AMR25 struggled for pace. Alonso retired after crashing on lap 34 while his teammate Lance Stroll secured a sixth-place finish. This difficult start persisted through the early rounds of the season where the car lacked the performance of its predecessor, leaving Alonso scoreless and sitting 17th in the standings by May. A significant upgrade package introduced at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix began to turn his season around as Alonso qualified 5th but finished 11th courtesy of a poorly-timed virtual safety car. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, he finished in fifth place, his highest result of the 2025 campaign. This momentum carried into the second half of the season, where he scored in most rounds from Zandvoort to Abu Dhabi. In both Singapore and Qatar Alonso finished in seventh. After a P7 finish at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso ended the 2025 season 10th in the Drivers' Championship with 56 points compared to Stroll’s 33.
left|thumb|Alonso at the [[2026 Chinese Grand Prix]]
Alonso began his 2026 campaign with two retirements at Australia and China, and finishing 18th in Japan. The AMR26, the first Aston Martin and only car on the grid to be powered by a Honda engine, suffered from reliability issues and lacked pace, causing a very poor start to the season.
Endurance racing
Alonso made his sports car endurance racing debut at the 1999 24 Hours of Barcelona. Paired with Antonio García, Salvi Delmuns and the journalist Pedro Fermín Flores, the quartet finished third in the M10 class and tenth overall in a Hyundai Accent. Alonso was due to enter the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche's Le Mans Prototype 1 team before Honda blocked it.
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (2018–2019)
thumb|right|The [[Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R driven in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona (pictured at the 2017 Petit Le Mans).]]
Alonso drove a Ligier JS P217 entered by United Autosports in the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Alonso, Philip Hanson and McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris qualified thirteenth and finished 38th after multiple mechanical issues affected the car during the race. Alonso returned to race in the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona with Wayne Taylor Racing. He shared a Cadillac DPi-V.R with Kamui Kobayashi, Renger van der Zande and Jordan Taylor. The quartet completed 593 laps to win the rain-shortened event.
FIA World Endurance Championship (2018–2019)
left|thumb|Alonso driving a [[Toyota TS050 Hybrid at the 2018 6 Hours of Silverstone.]]
Brown discussed an entry for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with Alonso and was prepared to consent to a switch to another team if certain circumstances were met. Alonso and Toyota held talks and agreed to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He visited Toyota's factory in Cologne for a seat fitting in a TS050 Hybrid in November 2017. Toyota entered Alonso into a post-season rookie test at the Bahrain International Circuit later that month. In January 2018, McLaren and Toyota reached an agreement to allow Alonso to enter the full 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship.