Fernando Alonso's racing career began at the age of three when he inherited the kart of his sister who was not very fond of racing. At the age if thirteen he then secured the Spanish Karting title and two years later he crowned himself kart world champion.

When he changed to single seaters in 1999 he took the Euro Open championship in the first year with six wins and nine pole positions. The following year he competed in the F3000 championship and ended the season in fourth place with one race win that came in Spa and two pole positions. During the year he also worked as a test driver for Minardi in formula one.

2001 saw his transition to a formula one race driver as he started for Minardi. After a rather difficult season in the low budget team he moved to Renault as a test driver in 2002. The following year he finally got a race cockpit at Renault and besides finishing sixth in the championship he also became the youngest ever driver to win a race in formula shortly after his 22nd birthday. Podiums in Spain, Malaysia and Brazil added to the good year.

2004 did not see another win for Alonso but he moved up to fourth in the championship. Still that was only the prelude for what was left to come. In 2005 he uncrowned Michael Schumacher as world champion and took seven race wins and was on the podium eight more times. At the age of 24 years and 59 days he was the youngest ever world champion in the pinnacle of motorsport.

In 2006 he won the title again but had to fight till the last race to hold of a very determined Michael Schumacher who wanted to take his eighth title in his final season in formula one. In 2007 he changed teams to McLaren but left just after one difficult season as team mate of Lewis Hamilton. After two more difficult years at Renault he signed a long-term contract with Ferrari to follow in the footsteps of Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher.