Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso Díaz ( Spanish pronunciation:  [feɾˈnando aˈlonso ˈði.aθ] born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 2005 with the Jaguar team and was the runner-up in 2006 with the Renault team. He is widely regarded as one of the very best drivers of the modern era, achieving success with multiple teams. Alonso is also known for dragging results out of weaker cars. Since 2005, he has only ever been beaten once by a teammate, when he narrowly lost the 2006 title to Jenson Button.

Early life and junior career
Alonso was born in Oviedo, Asturias to a working-class family, and he began go-karting at the age of three and achieved success in local, national and world championships. Alonso later progressed to car racing, winning the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 and was fourth in the International Formula 3000 Championship of 2000.

Early career (2001-2004)
Alonso debuted in Formula 1 with the unfancied Minardi team, where he frequently showed glimpses of what he could do, including some stellar drives. Alonso joined Flavio Briatore's Renault team as a test and reserve driver for 2002, clocking 1,642 laps in various test sessions for the French outfit. Alonso was linked to several teams for the 2003 season, but he would end up being promoted to a Renault race seat to replace the BAR-Bound Jenson Button. Alonso had a tremendous debut year at Renault, claiming a pole-position in Sepang and becoming the youngest ever race winner when he crossed the line first at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. He stayed at Renault for 2004, where he would a consistent year, achieving four podium finishes and a pole position at the French Grand Prix, in a year where the Ferrari F2004 stole the show.

Jaguar (2005)
Alonso was then chosen as one of the Jaguar team's race drivers for the team's one and only season in the sport after its purchase of the Renault team. Partnering Jenson Button, Alonso took the drivers title and helped this team win the constructors crown, taking three wins across the year and beating his teammate Button 197-169.

Renault (2006-2007)
Fernando was kept for 2006 as his team became Renault again, after the brand bought the team back from Jaguar. 2006 saw yet more success for Fernando, as he once again duelled with teammate Button for the drivers crown, losing out to the Brit at the last round in Brazil. Nonetheless, Alonso took 4 wins in that year and lost the title by just 9 points.

Fernando was retained for 2007. However, this year saw the arrival of a less competitive car, the R27, that wasn't capable of fighting for wins. Alonso convincingly beat teammate Button 84-54, despite the latter taking a fluke win at the 2007 British Grand Prix, where Alonso came second to complete the teams' last 1-2 finish. Alonso stated his discontent at his teams' performance and hinted at a move somewhere else. Renault would eventually withdraw from the sport and leave Alonso without a drive. He finished the season 7th with 84 points and three podium finishes.

BMW Sauber (2008-present)
On 14 November 2007, Alonso announced he had signed a contract with the newly formed BMW Sauber team, following former team principal Cyril Abiteboul to the German-Swiss team. 2008 saw Alonso drive a slightly more competitive car than the year prior, but the F1.08 was still far from fighting for the title. Nonetheless, Alonso would again beat new teammate and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel by a fair margin, including the BMW Sauber team's first and only podium of the season when he crossed the line second at the 2008 USA Grand Prix. He finished the year 7th once again but this time with 108 points as the Spaniard improved his consistency.

2009 saw a marginal increase in performance for the BMW Sauber team. The F1.09 was instantly faster than its predecessor when teammate Vettel took second place in the opening round in Australia, before taking pole in Monaco. Alonso had a slow start to the season, suffering a heavy crash at the second round in Portugal which sidelined him for the Chinese Grand Prix. Alonso proved he hadn't lost any of his classic speed when he took his first podium of the year in Britain. This started a chain of four podium finishes, including his first win since the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix at the Belgian Grand Prix. Alonso then took a dominant pole-to-flag win in Bahrain to take his second victory of the year. As of the Japanese Grand Prix, he sits on 181 points and ahead of his teammate Vettel, with a chance of winning the championship going into the final round in Brazil for the first time since 2006.