The year is 2001 and ITunes had just been unveiled to the world and George Bush had just become the 43rd president of the United States. However, the 4th March 2001 would end up proving to be a significant day for Spanish motorsport. A young Fernando Alonso would be preparing for his Formula 1 Grand Prix debut at the Albert Park circuit on Melbourne, Australia for the opening round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship. The rest they say is so often history, however, over 23 years later, Fernando Alonso is set to make his 400th Grand Prix start at this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix. To make his 100th Grand Prix start, he will be sharing a grid with Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Oscar Piastri. Three drivers who were not born at the time of Alonso's debut Grand Prix. The 43-year old since then has grown on to become a two-time world champion and has become a legend of the sport and one of the greats of the sport with over 30 Grand Prix victories. Throughout his career, he has driven for powerhouse names such as McLaren and Ferrari while also currently enduring his most recent and current stint at Aston Martin, from whom he has raced for since the beginning of the 2023 championship. However, there can be no denying Alonso's most powerful times came at Renault where he clinched back-to-back world championships in 2005 and 2006 which broke a chain of five successive championships, which were all won by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. He has been a driver who has been in many title fights including his days at Ferrari, where he fought Sebastian Vettel hard for the 2010 and 2012 World Drivers Championships. F1 TV did a feature on Fernando Alonso and his outstanding milestone as Tom Clarkson sat down with the Spaniard for an interview as an episode for the Beyond the Grid podcast, that was especially done for Fernando and celebrating the 400th Grand Prix milestone he is set to achieve. Alonso said "To reach 400 is a big number" when he spoke about the demands of a 24-race season being demanding but he is able to "pay off all the sacrifices" be getting behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car. "Knowing that no one reached that number in the past, maybe someone does in the future, but not many." This race 400 is not likely to be the last we see of Fernando Alonso and he could continue on to get more races under his belt to extend his number further.He is currently under contract for both of the 2025 and 2026 seasons, to help Aston Martin embed themselves into an exciting new era with Honda association and Adrian Newey joining the team. Since Alonso came into Formula 1 with Minardi for the start of 2001, he has consistently impressed throughout. His first win of his Formula 1 career would come in 2003 and it would come at that year's Hungarian Grand Prix after joining Renault that season. 2005 would be the year of Alonso's first drivers championship as the Spaniard would pick up seven wins, with Renault, on route to take the crown and to end the successive championship run of Michael Schumacher. He would retain his title in 2006 with another remarkable season. However, following on from his two-successive championships at Renault, Alonso would make a shock move to join McLaren where he would partner young rookie Lewis Hamilton, who the year prior had won the 2006 GP2 championship. There was more than the fair share of controversies in the year that Alonso and Hamilton spent together as teammates with both drivers having a heated inter-team battle. It was also a year where Hamilton was more than challenging Fernando Alonso, and the young Brit would beat Fernando on many occasions. At the end of 2007, Hamilton and Alonso would finish one point shy of the championship crown, but it would be Hamilton who ended closest, with second place going to Lewis Hamilton and third place going to Alonso as Kimi Raikkonen took the title for Ferrari. Alonso, unhappy at McLaren, made a return to Renault for 2008 to partner Nelson Piquet Jr. It would be this year that the controversial "Crashgate" happened with the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix being talked about for seemingly all the wrong reasons. He would stay with Renault for 2009 before joining the scarlet Ferrari team to partner Felipe Massa for the 2010 season. During his five seasons at Ferrari ending in 2014, he would fight for both of the 2010 and 2012 world championships and came close to winning both. However, beating him to both crowns would be Sebastian Vettel. His last Formula 1 win to date would come in the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. For 2015, he would return to McLaren and would partner with fellow Formula 1 veteran Jenson Button as Honda engines had returned to McLaren in a new era for the team. This would be a horrible time for Alonso with a lack of car performance and him being far from able to challenge. He would also endure a new teammate in 2017 and 2018 at McLaren with Stoffel Vandoorne replacing Jenson Button who retired from the sport. While competing in the 2017 championship, Alonso would miss the Monaco Grand Prix due to him competing in the 2017 IndyCar 500 at Indianapolis. Alonso would be getting into the idea of competing in other variations of motors[port such as IndyCar or even Endurance racing. In 2018, Fernando Alonso would announce his retirement and would move away from Formula 1 to compete in other championships. He would compete in Indycar competitions as well as Endurance racing. It would be endurance where he would have the most success. In the 2018-19 World Endurance Championship, he would take top honours in the LMP1 class with Toyota Gazoo Racing to become world champion in another top tier of motorsport. Alonso would also manage to win the 24 hours of Daytona that same year. However, Alonso would make a comeback to Formula 1. It would be announced in 2020 to the surprise of everyone that Alonso would make a return and it would be with Alpine who were transitioning from Renault for the 2021 campaign onwards. Alonso would be back and would stay for two years at the Endstone-based outfit as he would partner with Esteban Ocon. Although there were frictions at times between the two drivers, Alonso and Ocon did work together to take victory at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Ocon taking his maiden win just like Alonso did in Budapest - 18 years prior. At the end of 2022, Alonso would join Aston Martin to be part of Lawrence Stroll's project to try and get Aston Martin to be a winning team in Formula 1. He would make his debut in the 2023 season and that is where is up to this day and where he is set to be for the next two seasons - following th conclusion of the 2024 season. Alonso's career stats speak for themselves with a grand total of two world championships, 32 race victories, 106 podiums and 22 pole positions. He also has more than 2,300 points to his name so far in his long Formula 1 career. He definitely is an all-time great in Formula 1 undoubtedly so. To celebrate his impressive milestone of 400 Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso will be hoping to add to his tally at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City for the Mexican Grand Prix. As Formula 1 people this weekend, whether we are super-fans of him or not, we should celebrate this milestone. With over 30 Grand Prix wins and two world driver's championships and driving for some of the biggest names in world motorsport. What he has achieved on track has built his legendary status and that simply has to be applauded. Congratulations on 400 Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso! Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
November 2024
Categories |