Fernando Alonso

- Published on Dec 21st, 2010 by The Badger

Life Before F1
Brief as can be . Massive success in karting was followed by the Euro Open by Nissan title in 1999 and a short but impressive stint in Formula 3000. He won the 2000 season-finale at Spa and a few months later, aged just 19, had an F1 contract with Minardi.

F1 Career
Hugely successful and massively controversial: that sums Fernando Alonso's time in F1 up nicely. Need we say any more? Okay, maybe a little.

Fernando debuted in a Minardi back in 2001 and was mighty impressive, a 17th place gridslot at Indianapolis - ahead of former champ Jacques Villeneuve - proving a highlight.  He then took a year out to become Renault's tester in 2002, clocking thousands of miles for the French squad, and was subsequently promoted to a race drive the next year.

Fernando's return to competitve F1 was an almost-instant success. He took his maiden pole at round two in Malaysia, going on to finish third in the race. He secured P1 again in Hungary and this time converted it in to a win, becoming the youngest F1 race-winner to date in the proccess. We now knew we had a star of the future on our hands. 2004 saw no wins but an increase in points and yet more displays of sheer brilliance, before 2005 and 2006 saw him take back-to-back titles. At the time he was the youngest champ ever, and he remains the youngest to take two F1 world titles. The first saw a consistent campaign where he overcame the faster but far more fragile car of Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren), whilst the second saw him topple Michael Schumacher in a straight fight and effectively end the great German's F1 career.

In 2007 he switched to McLaren, the team of his idol Ayrton Senna, as he sought to cement his place in F1 history. But this move began his controversial phase. Paired with rookie Lewis Hamilton he assumed number one status would be his, but it soon became clear that the Brit was to be given equal treatment. Relations with the team broke down, culminating in a pitlane squabble with Hamilton during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand prix and an alleged bust up with Ron Dennis over the spygate affair. Alonso missed out on the title by just one point, but it was clear his time with the team was over.

2008 brought more controversy - though we didn't fully know it at the time. Alonso's return to Renault was underwhelming, primarily because the team had dropped behind its rivals during the Spaniard's absence. However by the end of the season things were looking up, leading to him taking two race victories: Singapore and Japan.

But whilst the second was well-earned the first, we would discover a year later, came about because tam-mate Nelson Piquet Jr intentionally crashed to bring out a safety car, thus allowing Fernando's very risky pit strategy to pay off. He claims he knew nothing of the plot and the FIA agreed; some, however, still believe he knew something about the scheme. Regardless, he ended the year a decent fifth in the standings. Hopes were high that he and the team could recapture past glories in 2009.

But it wasn't to be as the campaign proved Alonso's worst in F1, at least in terms of results. Renault's R29 was uncompetitive and ugly, with Fernando managing just one podium. That it came in Singapore, shortly after the full details of the crash-gate scandal had emerged, only seemed to mire in Spaniard in yet more controversy. He ended the season ninth in the championship with just 26 points.

However whilst results on track had not been up to Alonso's standards his own performance level had remained as high as ever and, as is often the case when a driver faces a difficult season, he grew as a competitor ahead of his switch to Ferrari.

2010 was arguably his finest year in F1, with five wins - including a maiden win in front of the Tifosi and career high defeat of Sebastian Vettel in Singapore - on his way to runner-up in the standings. Of course there was more controversy, as Felipe Massa was forced to move over to allow his team-mate victory in Germany, simply confirming that Alonso is as brilliant behind the wheel as he is devise away from the car. But hey, every F1 grid needs its Dick Dastardly.