Fernando Alonso's career in pictures: Touching moment in legend's horror 300km/h crash
Fernando Alonso to start 400th Grand Prix
F1's most experienced driver will rack up another incredible milestone this weekend, when he enters his 400th grand prix.
Fernando Alonso, now 43, made his debut in the sport in the 2001 Australian Grand Prix.
For context, that race meeting was held about a month before Oscar Piastri – the youngest driver on the 2024 grid – was born.
"To reach 400 now is a big number," he told F1's Beyond the Grid podcast ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix.
"Knowing that no one reached that number in the past, maybe someone does in the future, but not many, let's say a group of five or 10 maximum, it just demonstrates my love for racing, for F1, how much I enjoy this lifestyle, motor racing in general."
Alonso is one of only seven drivers ever to have entered in 300 grands prix.
Wide World of Sports has taken a look back at the brightest moments in his career, which included two world championships.
Debut - 2001
Having been reserve and test driver for Italian minnows Minardi in 2000, Alonso was elevated to a race seat for 2001. The car was uncompetitive and his best finish was 10th in the German Grand Prix.
But despite those lacklustre results, he'd caught the attention of many up and down the pitlane.
He signed as a reserve driver with Renault for 2002, and earned a promotion into its race lineup for 2003.
2003 - first victory
Back in the car for 2003, the Spaniard was immediately on the pace.
He finished on the podium in three of the opening five races of the season, including second in his home grand prix.
Later in the year, he won his maiden race in dominant fashion in Hungary. He took pole and virtually led from start to finish.
2005 - Maiden title
Alonso went winless in 2004 as Michael Schumacher and Ferrari put on one of the most dominant season performances in history. He still managed to finish fourth in the standings with four podium finishes.
That all changed in 2005, when a ban on in-race tyre changes killed Ferrari. Alonso immediately became the man to beat. After finishing third in the season-opener in Melbourne, he won the next three races.
By the end of the season, he won seven races and missed the podium only twice in races he'd finished. He won the title by 21 points over Kimi Raikonnen.
Back to back titles
He made it back-to-back championships in 2006, although it wasn't without drama.
After dominating the early part of the season, the FIA banned a crucial suspension component that had given the Renault car an advantage. Without it, Michael Schumacher won five of the next eight races to head into the penultimate race of the season tied on points.
Late in that second last race in Japan, Schumacher suffered an engine failure. Alonso won the race, which meant Schumacher would've had to win the final race in Brazil to win the championship on a countback. Alonso finished second, with Schumacher fourth.
2007 - The McLaren switch
He shocked the sport by switching to McLaren for 2007, but lost out in a season-long battle with a rookie Lewis Hamilton (yellow helmet in front).
He revealed ahead of the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix he thought that contract would be the final of his career.
"I had a three-year contract for 2007, '08 and '09, and I was 99 per cent sure that 2009 would be my last F1 season. That was my very clear plan in my head," he said.
"When I signed that contract, in my head at that time, it was like a long-term contract and three years will feel maybe long, but this is the last.
"I already fulfilled my dream. This is beyond my wildest imagination to be an F1 champion, so what else can I do here?"
McLaren were also involved in the spygate scandal that season, which led to the biggest fine in sporting history.
Alonso and Hamilton were 1-2 heading into the final race of the season, but both were jumped by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who won the title by one point.
2008 - a murky victory
He returned to Renault for 2008. He won his first race for the team in the maiden Singapore Grand Prix having benefited from a safety car for a crash for teammate Nelson Piquet Jr.
A year later, it emerged Piquet Jr had been instructed to crash deliberately in order to help Alonso.
2010 - the one that got away
He joined Ferrari for 2010, and arguably should've won the 2010 championship. He needed to finish fifth in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to guarantee himself the title, but got stuck, ironically behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov, for much of the race and finished only seventh.
Sebastian Vettel won the race and his maiden title.
2012 - the one that got away (again)
Alonso was again a chance at the title in 2012, but was unable to capitalise on Vettel's lap one collision at the start of the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.
Alonso could only finish second in the race, while Vettel rallied to finish sixth and win the title by three points.
2015 - Back to McLaren
With Ayrton Senna, McLaren and Honda had one of the most successful relationships in the sport's history.
But with Fernando Alonso, it was the complete opposite.
Alonso reunited with McLaren in the second year of the hybrid era in 2015, but it marked arguably the lowest point of his career.
Having been in competitive cars for much of his career, the engine Honda were providing to McLaren was terrible. Heavy, underpowered, and unreliable, Alonso was openly hostile towards the brand until his departure from the team and the sport at the end of 2018.
