I have been watching a following Formula 1 from a young age, unfortunately being born in a 3rd world country, I have a deep desire and passion for motorsport but in our country, it is STILL impossible to reach the pinnacle of Sports, when we send even a team or a delegate to Olympics, that's a MASSIVE achievement and our poor Athletes usually come home with their tails between their legs. But anyways, we have access to the world of sports, we can watch and follow ICONS. And today it's about the MAN still on the GRID and chasing a dream.......YES!!! Fernando Alonso
One of my favorite pics of the GREATEST of All Times, a TRUE Champion but definitely has handled his career and made some really BAD choices.......but isn't that what LIFE is all about, but what I like the most about this pic is, HOW TRULY HAPPY HE LOOKS, following you will see his few pics, where he seems to be having a great fight within and yet putting up with a GREAT resilient FACE and showing that he is TRULY a CHAMPION of this generation.
Born in Spain - Oviedo on July 29, 1981 as Fernando Alonso Diaz and at a tender age of 3 years old, he sat in a cart that his father made for his elder sister (she didn't like it but he LOVED it) by the age of 5 years old, he started carting in Spain and soon his father realized that he had a natural talent because, he wasn't afraid of the big boys and was beating them hands down.
So as all FATHERS adore their children and do their utmost BEST, he started supporting his son's passion and honing his talent and from 1994 to 1997 won Spain Carting Championship consecutively 3 times, and was declared World Carting Champion in 1996. From where he moved to the BIG boys league
He got his break by Adrian Campos to compete in Euro Open Movistar Series by Nissan in October 1998 and in his test drive with Campos Team, he match the lap times of the current Champion Marc Gene and in his 2nd race with the team, he WON.
While at the Campos Team, Minardi also signed him up as TEST and Development Driver - though Minardi was at the time one of the back markers in F1, but the KID wanted a break in the upper echelons of MotorSport for his talent to be seen and man he made an impression - he lapped 1.5 seconds faster than the regular F1 Minardi Driver at that time (bear in mind, F1 is a sport where even 1000th of second counts, and a young kids barely out of his teens, laps the Team driver by 1.5 seconds a lap, in race distance, he would have overtaken his own team mate, that what 1.5 seconds means)
After a year with Campos, he went to Formula 3000, which in those days was equivalent to the current days of F2 or GP2 and as the youngest driver by nearly a year, he finished the series fourth behind Mark Webber, but Alonso by this time had his eyes set and mind focused to ACHIEVING greatness in F1
So he started his Career with Minardi in 2001 and on his debut race, he out-qualified his team mate by 2.6 seconds and at the final round of Formula 1 in Suzuka, though he finished at 11th position, but his race craft was of the sorts that he was 5 positions ahead in a back marker team, from the mid order teams such as BAR - Oliver Panis & Frentzen - PROST; for that race as his team boss from the Minardi days, Paul Stoddart, described his race as "53 laps of qualifying"
The young CHAMPION in the making was getting attention from a lot of teams, Sauber (mid order team of F1 and only surviving team of that era still in F1) which was keen, but Filipe Massa got that opportunity, but at this stage Flavio Baritore was more keen to have Alonso become the test driver for Benetton Renault and so he did in 2002, as a test driver he completed a whooping 1,642 laps for Benetton and the same year, he replaced Jenson Button a bit later in the year and as the regular driver for Benetton Renault in 2003, he secured the Pole Position
But that's when you know, he has arrived and in the process became the youngest F1 driver to secure a pole in Malaysian GP 2003, which would stand for the next 5 years. 2004 was a decent year for the young Alonso, securing 4 podiums and few points finished but point worth noting here is that Alonso's first competition is his team mates, driving a similar car and he destroyed them by nearly securing twice as many points, and 2ndly, Benetton was an upcoming Team and one has to remember that Micheal Schumacher was at his peak with Ferrari in this era, with Williams & McLaren in close contention.
And 2005 arrives and now, the team is equipped with a car to fight for the championship, Alonso now being in the F1 circuit for nearly 4 years and primed to take the fight to Micheal Schumacher at Ferrari and one of the most legendary was at San Marino 2005 where Alonso defied Micheal for almost 13 laps to finish at the top step of the podium
Micheal being Micheal and the Legend he is and was, would never giveup easily and the resurgent Maclaren was a force to reckon with, also having Juan Pablo Montoya & Kimi Raikkonen and with 3rd position finish at the final race at Brazilian GP, Alonso became the youngest Champion at the age of 24 years & 59 days breaking the record of Emerson Fitipaldi
On his winning the Championship, Alonso "I just want to dedicate this championship to my family, and all my close friends who have supported me through my career. Spain is not a country with an F1 culture, and we had to fight alone, every step of the way, to make this happen. A huge thank-you should also go to the team as well – they are the best in Formula One, and we have done this together. It will say that I am world champion, but we are all champions – and they deserve this." But this is not ALL, Alonso, took the team to it's first ever Formula 1 Constructor's Title as well
With motivation high as ever and focused young Alonso, was at it again, but first I get on with his 2006 season, have a look at his Pole Lap at China GP in 2006 and what a master class to clinch the Pole in wet, SUPERB throttle control, sensing the grip and keeping the car at pace.......ran out of words except WoW!!!!
Lets get on with the 2006 campaign............
The year was a DREAM start for the young Champion, out of the first nine races, he was either 1st or 2nd, in a fierce battle with Micheal Schumacher and after a few DNF from both Championship rivals, that is Micheal & Alonso. Japanese GP turned out to be decisive, where Alonso finished behind Massa after Micheal had an engine failure which gave Alonso a 10 point lead which meant that in the last race he only needed a point to finish of the Championship both driver's and constructor's, hence making him the youngest double World Championship
Now, the double CHAMP is looking for a new challenge to push the his limits but he didn't know that he had made a wrong decision, but lets watch the Champ cut it so close to the dominant Ferraris at Spa Franco Champs - Belgian GP
Yes, the new pretender, Brit - Lewis Hamilton at a Brit Team brought-up the ranks and mentored by Ron Dennis (principle of Maclaren) was his partner, obviously Ron wanted to help Lewis and the relationship with Alonso was very broken from the beginning. The Champ was not deterred by the fast pace of Lewis (and mind you, I think Lewis is a well deserving Champion in his own rights and has amazing abilities and deserves all the accolades he has achieved - though some times too cocky, and that's what I don't like about him); while at Maclaren, he felt and was evident from many incidents where he was pushed to play the supporting role to Lewis and thats one thing that he didn't sign up for.
Especially after this incident, that picture was clear that instead of retaining the World Champion they would rather continue to support Lewis (a Brit in a Brit dominated team) and that proved also by Lewis winning his first Championship the very next year.
When Alonso went back to Renault, which was tarred with CRASHGATE controversy and saw Flavio Baritore banned from F1 for life
Which left him a move to Ferrari which was the ERA where he showed his real abilities, where an under performing car was shaken to its core and wringed to extract every ounce of its ability which yielded him 2nd position in Championship; though this era was where REDBULL and Sebastian Vettlel were invincible with the Adrian Newey design leaving everyone on the grid totally speechless but ALONSO fought and fought hard, making sure that with his inferior Ferrari, gave them the run for their money which ended in 2014 but with Kimi Raikkonen (aka Flying Finn) being his team mate in his last years at Ferrari, he did show what a challenge he was, who couldn't match him either
Listen to his radio messages, when the Sauber, which has been historically the slowest and smallest budget in F1 car, passes him on the straights
Worst is yet to come for him, only if he had known, which was the ear starting at Maclaren, when they thought to bring back Honda to F1 arena.......NOT MUCH to say about this ERA for the guy, who by almost everyone on the F1 grid thinks of him as the Best Driver on the Grid, when you already have 2 very accomplished drivers and 4 times world champions.
Moral: F1 is a exclusive member's club, but when a very STRONG individual tries to stand up for his talent and belief, they will not let you win; Alonso - you are lucky that unlike Senna, you are still ALIVE but if you don't know how to play the politics then you will remain under achieved, no matter how talented you are - BUT I STILL WISH YOU WELL