Fernando Alonso

To write about Fernando Alonso is to write about the most complete, most competitive, most inexhaustible racing driver of the modern era. Born in Oviedo in northern Spain, Alonso began karting at three years old and arrived at Formula 1 with Minardi in 2001 at just 19, becoming a two-time World Champion at Renault by the age of 25 — defeating the great Michael Schumacher in 2005 and defending brilliantly in 2006, becoming the youngest double champion in history at that time.

What followed was a masterclass in elite-level talent without the ultimate reward. Seasons at McLaren, Ferrari — where his genius was most visible and most frustrated simultaneously — McLaren again (the disastrous Honda partnership) and Renault kept producing individual brilliance from imperfect machinery. Retirements and returns punctuated a career that others wrote off repeatedly and Alonso simply refused to accept. His return to Aston Martin in 2023 produced eight podiums and a fourth-place championship finish that sent a message across the entire paddock: this man still has everything. In 2026 — his 24th season in Formula 1 and armed with the most starts in the sport's history at 438 — Alonso, at 45, remains the most stubborn, ferocious competitor on the grid.

Forensic in defence, surgical in attack, and driven by a competitive fire that has simply never been switched off, Fernando Alonso is the sport's greatest ongoing human story.