Best moments of Fernando Alonso’s F1 career including first pole, podium, win, title and more

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Fernando Alonso has produced some iconic moments throughout his Formula 1 career, which includes over 400 starts, so F1 Oversteer is looking into the best moments over the years, including his first win and pole position.

The Spaniard won the world-karting championship in 1996, before Minardi handed Fernando Alonso his Formula 1 debut in 2001.

In an uncompetitive Minardi, Alonso’s best result of the season was a tenth-place finish at the German Grand Prix. He scored no points and finished 23rd overall in the season before moving to Renault as a test driver in 2002.

Alonso would later go on to join McLaren in 2007, then Ferrari in 2010, before going back to McLaren in 2015. After a brief sabbatical – in which he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice – Alonso returned to F1 with Alpine in 2021 before joining Aston Martin in 2023.

The Spaniard could finish his career at the team owned by billionaire Lawrence Stroll, after Alonso signed a contract extension with Aston Martin that takes him through to 2026.

Where did Fernando Alonso make his Formula 1 debut?

Alonso made his Formula 1 debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix with the Minardi team. Having impressed in the junior ranks, he caught the eye of Minardi owner Paul Stoddart, who ran him in his team alongside Tarso Marques.

At which race did Fernando Alonso secure his first F1 pole position?

After being promoted to the race team at Renault in 2003, Alonso went on to break a number of records, including the youngest driver to achieve a pole position. It happened at the second race of the 2003 season in Malaysia, where he achieved pole by 0.173s ahead of teammate Jarno Trulli.

When did Fernando Alonso take his first podium finish in Formula 1?

While Alonso could not convert his first pole position in Formula 1 into a race win at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix, his performance at Sepang did return his first podium finish in third place behind Rubens Barrichello and eventual race winner Kimi Raikkonen.

He also broke the record for being the youngest driver to lead a race at 21 years old, with the previous record having remained since 1951.

Where did Fernando Alonso win his first F1 Grand Prix?

With him already earning the ‘future world champion’ status, Alonso built on a strong start to his 2003 season by becoming F1’s youngest race winner at the Hungarian Grand Prix at just 22 years old and 26 days old.

Alonso was leading the race by over 10 seconds after the first four laps, and after briefly giving up his lead to Raikkonen in the McLaren, the Spaniard pressed on and managed to beat the Finn by 16.7 seconds for a landmark victory.

Not only was he the youngest-ever F1 winner, but he was also the first driver to win a race in Spain after the country had not seen any success in F1. Only Fon de Portago’s second place at the 1956 British GP had been the closest Spain had come to a race winner.

Where did Fernando Alonso secure his first Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship?

Alonso won his first Formula 1 drivers’ championship in 2005 while driving for Renault. The iconic blue and yellow paint scheme on the R25 became an iconic look that would define Alonso’s career at the team.

During the season, he won seven races and took 15 podiums out of a possible 19 races, having only finished outside the points at the Hungarian, Canadian and US Grands Prix.

Not only was Alonso the first Spanish driver to win a world championship, but it was the first time any driver had won with a Renault engine since the Williams FW19 in 1997.

Alonso would go on to achieve a second successive title victory in 2006, which would be his last at Renault.

Fernando Alonso has produced iconic drives in his F1 career

Ever since his first year at the back of the grid with Minardi to his rollercoaster years with Ferrari and torrid second stints at Renault and McLaren, Alonso’s career has featured a plethora of impressive drives.

By far his most iconic drive was at the 2012 European Grand Prix when Alonso started from 11th place and managed to win the race. In a Ferrari that wasn’t as quick as its rivals, Alonso managed to get into the top six in the early stages of the race.

Alonso worked his way up to fourth when a well-timed safety car enabled him to pass Lewis Hamilton for third. He would later pull off an overtake on Romain Grosjean for second, before being handed the lead when Sebastian Vettel retired with an alternator failure.

The Spaniard’s emotions after the race summed up just how unexpected the race win was, but it was his consistency that enabled Alonso to triumph in front of his home crowd.