Road to Formula 1

He was born on 29 July 1981 in Oviedo, in the north of Spain. In 1996 he won the world karting championship, and in 1999, his very first season in single-seaters, he became Euro Open by Nissan champion. In 2000 he raced in International Formula 3000 while also working as a Minardi test driver: he finished the season fourth, and at the final round at Spa he took pole, set the fastest lap and won the race.

He made his World Championship debut for Minardi at the Australian Grand Prix on 4 March 2001, finishing 12th from 19th on the grid. His best result of that first season was 11th at the Japanese Grand Prix on 14 October 2001. He spent 2002 as a Renault test driver and earned a race seat with the team for 2003.

Renault and two titles

He scored his first points in his very first race for Renault — seventh at the Australian Grand Prix on 9 March 2003. Two weeks later, on 23 March 2003 in Malaysia, he took his first pole and his first podium, and on 24 August 2003 he won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole, becoming at the time the youngest winner in the championship’s history.

He became World Champion in 2005: third place at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 25 September 2005 sealed the title with two races to go. A year later he defended it with second place at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 22 October 2006, the final race of the season.

In 2007 he spent a season at McLaren, won four races and finished level on points with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, losing the title to Kimi Räikkönen by a single point. In 2008 and 2009 he was back at Renault, and in that time he won the Singapore Grand Prix on 28 September 2008 and the Japanese Grand Prix on 12 October 2008.

Ferrari, McLaren and stepping away

From 2010 to 2014 he drove for Ferrari. He won his very first race for the team, the Bahrain Grand Prix on 14 March 2010. He was runner-up three times: in 2010 he lost out to Sebastian Vettel by four points, in 2012 by three, and in 2013 he finished second a long way behind the leader. His last win for Ferrari was his home Spanish Grand Prix on 12 May 2013.

From 2015 to 2018 he raced for McLaren — three seasons with Honda engines, the last one with Renault. On 28 May 2017 he skipped the Monaco Grand Prix to make his Indianapolis 500 debut: he led for 27 laps but retired with an engine failure 21 laps from the end, and was named Rookie of the Year. After the 2018 season he left the championship.

Away from Formula 1 and back again

He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice with Toyota — on 17 June 2018, while still racing in Formula 1, the marque’s first win in the race, and on 16 June 2019, during his break from the championship — both times sharing the car with Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima. Together with them he became World Endurance Champion for the 2018–2019 season. On 27 January 2019 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, and in January 2020 he drove the Dakar Rally in a Toyota Hilux with co-driver Marc Coma, finishing 13th.

He returned to the championship with Alpine in 2021, and his first race back was the Bahrain Grand Prix on 28 March 2021. On 21 November 2021, at the Qatar Grand Prix, he started third and finished third — his first podium since his comeback.

On 1 August 2022 Aston Martin announced that he would join them from the 2023 season. He finished third in his very first race for the new team, the Bahrain Grand Prix on 5 March 2023, and stood on the podium eight times over the 2023 season. On 11 April 2024 he extended his contract to the end of 2026. On 27 October 2024, at the Mexico City Grand Prix, he became the first driver to reach 400 Grands Prix in the World Championship — although he did not finish that race.

2026 season

2026 is the first season of Aston Martin’s works partnership with Honda; his team-mate is Lance Stroll. The season opened with the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March 2026, where Alonso retired. His first points of the year came in Monaco on 7 June 2026: 10th place after starting 21st. On 23 August 2026 he finished ninth at Zandvoort, and on 13 September 2026 he raced in the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit, finishing 17th.