Fernando Alonso Díaz (born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver. He won the Formula One World Championship in 2005 and 2006 for the Renault team. Away from Formula One, he is a champion of the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 and 2019 with Toyota. He has a samurai tattoo on his back to show muscle strength, intelligence and force of will inspired by 18th century spiritual guide Hagakure.
About Fernando Alonso in brief
Fernando Alonso Díaz (born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver. He won the Formula One World Championship in 2005 and 2006 for the Renault team. Away from Formula One, he is a champion of the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 and 2019 with Toyota. He is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and runs an eSports and junior racing team. He has a samurai tattoo on his back to show muscle strength, intelligence and force of will inspired by the 18th century spiritual guide Hagakure. From 2006 to 2011, Alonso was married to Raquel del Rosario, the lead singer of the Spanish pop band, El Sueño de Morfeo. Alonso supports the Real Madrid and Real Oviedo football teams, and speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish. He also has an elder sister, Lorena, who is a doctor. Alonso won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations Cup with the rally driver Jesús Puras and the motorcyclist Rubén Xaus for Team Spain and thrice entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, the Premios Nacionales del Deporte Sportsman of the Year Award and the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit and has twice been inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame. His father is a mine shaft explosives factory mechanic and amateur kart driver José Luis Alonso, and his wife, the department store employee Ana Díazer. Alonso’s father wanted a hobby to share with his children and built a go-kart for Lorena.
At the age of three, Alonso received the kart. The karts’ pedals were modified for driveability, and the racing federation granted him a mandatory kart racing license aged five. Aged seven, Alonso won his first kart race in Pola de Laviana, Galicia. His mother sewn his racing overalls and adjusted them as he grew; she ensured Alonso was academically well off. He attended the Institute Leopoldo Alas Clarín of San Lazaro until his career in motor racing caused him to leave during his Curso de Orientación Universitaria in 2000. Alonso was granted a permit to study away from school, after he disobeyed his mother’s orders and seldom attended classes. In 2003, he won the Euro Open by Nissan in 1999 and was fourth in the International Formula 3000 Championship of 2000. He debuted in Formula One with Minardi in 2001 before joining Renault as a test driver for 2002. Promoted to a race seat in 2003 and Alonso won two drivers’ championships in 2005, 2006 from Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher, respectively. He finished third with McLaren in 2007, he returned to Renault for 2008 and 2009 and won two races in the former year for fifth overall. Alonso drove for Ferrari from 2010 to 2014, finishing runner-up to Sebastian Vettel three times in tightly contested title duels in 2010 and 2012 and again in 2013. Overall Alonso won 32 Formula One races, 22 pole positions and 1,899 points from 311 starts.
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