Fernando Alonso’s father Jose Luid originally tried to get his daughter Lorena, five years older than Alonso, interested in karting. But she never took to it and her kart was passed on to three year-old Fernando.

Karting

He won all eight races in the first series he entered in 1988. His continuing good results at Santo Angel de la Guarda school meant his parents were happy for him to continue karting.

In 1993 he won the Spanish karting championship with the Genikart team. Two years later he finished third in the World Championships and won the Junior World Championship in 1996.

That year he was spotted by former Formula One driver Adrian Campos at the Marlboro Masters race in Barcelona, with Alonso won. It was Campos that gave Alonso his first test in a racing car, with Campos’ Formula Nissan team, at Albacete in October 1998.

Formula Nissan & F3000

Although he crashed twice during the test by the third day he had matched Campos’ race driver Marc Gene’s pole position time from the race at the track earlier that year.

Alonso was confirmed with Campos racing for the 1999 Euro Open Movi Star by Nissan series (often known more simply as Formula Nissan, which later became the World Series by Nissan and then the World Series by Renault).

The Spaniard took his first win in the series in the second round at Albacete. Entering the final round of the season he trailled championship leader Manuel Giao 144 points to 125. He needed a win plus fastest lap (which gave an extra point) to claim the title at the final round in Valencia - which he duly delivered.

This led to his first ever F1 test at the end of the year with Minardi. He impressed sporting director Cesare Fiorio, beating the other young test drivers by 1.5 seconds.

Fiorio said: “The first thing I did was to call [Minardi boss] Gabriele Rumi to draw up a 10-year contract for him before word got round F1 about Fernando and someone stole him from us.”

For 2000 he progressed up the motor sport ladder to Formula 3000 with Team Astromega, following an impressive test for Coloni at Jerez. He had arrived in the closest series to Formula One in only his second year of racing cars. He was the youngest driver to contest F3000 that year by 11 months.

But it would be a difficult season. Alonso improved his English to communicate better with his mechanics and only at the end of the season did the results start to come.

He scored his first point in the seventh round of ten (the A1-Ring) but took second in the penultimate race the Hungaroring and won the season finale at Spa-Francorchamps. Thus, with only three points finishes, he nevertheless finished fourth in the championship behind Bruno Junquiera, Nicolas Minassian and Mark Webber.

Minardi

Alonso’s arrival in F1 came at the expense of Gene, who left Minardi as Rumi’s team was taken over by Australian Paul Stoddart. Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore had taken charge of Alonso’s career and steered him into the team.

A race against time to prepare Minardi for the 2001 season was won, and Alonso made his Grand Prix debut alongside Tarso Marques.

The Brazilian Marques had 12 Grand Prix appearances under his belt, but Alonso put him in the shade from the first qualifying session of the year. Alonso took 19th on the grid, displacing Gaston Mazzacane and Luciano Burti’s faster machinery, and beating Marques by 2.6 seconds.

That set the pattern for the year. The Minardi PS01 rarely had the speed to let Alonso display his talent over a race distance - and the team suffered poor reliability after the re-introduction of traction control early in the season.

So Alonso demonstrated his speed in qualifying: 18th in Imola ahead of both Benettons, which he repeated at the A1-Ring. Marques’ qualifying position in these races? 22nd and last.

The only real hiccup came when driving a two-seater Minardi at a fans’ day at Donington Park. With ITV-F1 presenter Louise Goodman on board, Alonso’s car was struck by that of 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell (with businessman Jonathan Frost). The collision pitched Mansell’s Minardi into the air.

The final round of 2001 was at Suzuka - a track Alonso had never raced on before, renowned as one of the most difficult on the calendar.

Alonso’s responded beautifully to the challenge. He qualified 18th and finished 11th - not because of retirements or accidents. He beat home Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Ferrari-powered Prost, Olivier Panis’ BAR-Honda, both Arrows and his new team mate Alex Yoong.

Benetton & Renault

Briatore was eager to slot Alonso in at Benetton (which was being taken over by Renault) in place of British driver Jenson Button, who in his second season had fared poorly compared to team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. But Button kept his place, Fisichella traded places with Jarno Trulli, and so Briatore moved Alonso into a test role.

Twelve months and 1,642 laps of Silverstone, Valencia, Jerez and Catalunya later, Alonso was promoted to the Renault race team for 2003, replacing Button.

He did not disappoint. At the second race of the season in Malaysia he became the youngest ever pole position holder. Then, at Hungary, the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, lapping eventual champion Michael Schumacher en route.

When Ferrari dominated the 2004 season Alonso had only one opportunity to take a win, at Monte-Carlo. And, unusually, he was beaten to it by his team-mate, Jarno Trulli, who took a flawless victory from pole, while Alonso crashed in the tunnel lapping Ralf Schumacher.

But before the end of 2004 Trulli was out, falling out of favour with Briatore and being replaced for 2005 by a returning Fisichella.

The first championship

Alonso was merciless in his domination of his new team mate - and in his pursuit of the championship. Although Fisichella won first time out at Melbourne, Alonso had stormed to third from thirteenth having suffered from rain on his qualifying lap.

It was Alonso who did the rest of the winning that year, taking seven victories and the championship. His Renault often trailled Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren for speed, but it was usually more reliable. That, allied to Alonso’s unrelenting speed which forced costly mistakes from Raikkonen at least twice, made him a worthy champion.

But there was no ignoring the fact that his championship had come in a season of atypical misfortune for Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, largely due to regulations that prohibited tyre changes. This was reversed for 2006, and a resurgent Schumacher presented a wholly different threat to Alonso.

On top of which, Alonso revealed in December of 2005 that he would leave Renault for McLaren in 2007. Even Briatore hadn’t seen that one coming.

The second championship

The 2006 season came in three phases - early domination by Alonso, a massive resurgence by Schumacher, and then an impossibly tense and often controversial fight to the final race of the season. It could not have been scripted better.

After nine races Alonso had 84 points from a potential 90 - more even that Schumacher had scored in his dominant 2004 campaign. But Ferrari fought back - with a revised aerodynamic package, with improved Bridgestone tyres, and with a Schumacher resolved to retire at the end of the season and determined to take the title with him.

They had more than that on their side. Renault’s innovative mass damper system was banned amid accusations of pro-Ferrari bias from the governing body.

Then came an extraordinary penalty handed to Alonso at Monza for allegedly blocking Schumacher’s team mate Felipe Massa. Alonso fumed on Sunday morning before the race, telling the press: “I no longer consider F1 a sport.”

That afternoon Schumacher won and went public with his retirement plans. Alonso also retired - from the race, when his engine blew after he had strained the Renault to its limits dragging it into third place.

At the Japanese Grand Prix Bridgestone appeared to have found an enormous new advantage in qualifying - for both Ferraris and both Toyotas were ahead of Alonso. But the Spaniard was to produce another virtuoso showing reminiscent of his first time there in 2001.

He sliced past Trulli’s Toyota on the first lap. Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota fell next - Alonso not hesitating for a moment as he laced him championship chances on the line with every passing move.

He drew to within five seconds of his nemesis in the Ferrari and could get no closer. The two screamed around Suzuka at full pelt. Alonso’s car had already let him down twice this year - now, incredibly, unbelievably, it was Schumacher’s turn. Alonso punched the air as he passed the stationary, smoking Ferrari at Degner 2, and won the race.

He won the championship at the final round where Schumacher again ran into car trouble. Alonso had beaten the seven-time champion and 91-time race winner, and become the youngest driver ever to win back-to-back titles.

And he had done it with a team that had known all season that he, their number one driver, was off to rivals McLaren for 2007.

Fall-out with McLaren - and Hamilton

Alonso came very close to taking a third consecutive championship in 2007 – finishing third in the title race, one point behind victor Kimi Raikkonen, and tied with team mate Lewis Hamilton.

But Alonso found himself at the centre of an acrimonious dispute with the McLaren team and opinion is divided over whether he was the instigator or the victim.

There were signs early in the season that Alonso was unhappy with Hamilton’s early run of success. He became increasingly vocal with his demands that the team concentrate on backing his title bid, even as Hamilton moved into the lead of the championship.

Relations within the team broke down completely at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton refused an instruction from the team to allow Alonso past during qualifying, so Alonso retaliated by delaying Hamilton in the pits, preventing his team mate from setting a final lap time.

The stewards punished Alonso for baulking Hamilton and McLaren for failing to provide an adequate explanation of what happened.

During the course of the season McLaren had been defending itself against allegations that it had obtained confidential information about Ferrari’s car. Ron Dennis claimed that on the morning of the Hungarian race Alonso threatened to expose compromising information about the alleged espionage of Dennis did not rein Hamilton in.

McLaren persisted with its policy of giving both drivers equal treatment and Alonso alienated himself further from the team, increasing his public complaints about their operation.

At the final round, at the request of the Spanish racing authority, an independent adjudicator was stationed in the McLaren pit during qualifying to ensure there was no foul play. He found none.

Shortly after the season ended McLaren terminated their contract with Alonso and he returned to Renault for 2008.

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