Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso was married to singer Raquel del Rosario from 2006 to 2011. He later had relationships with model Dasha Kapustina, journalist Lara Álvarez, and television presenter Andrea Schlager, and began dating sports journalist Melissa Jimenez in 2023.

Alonso and Jimenez welcomed a son in March 2026. Alonso grew up in a comfortable but not wealthy family. His father, José Luis Alonso, worked in the mining industry as an explosives expert and supported his son's early karting career.

Alonso began racing in a pedal kart that his father had built for his older sister, Lorena. He entered his first proper kart race shortly after his seventh birthday and won. He went on to win Spanish karting championships and the 1996 World Karting Championship.

Former Formula One driver Adrian Campos noticed Alonso after he won the Marlboro Masters karting race in Barcelona. Campos gave him a test with his Formula Nissan team at Albacete in 1998. Alonso later won the 1999 Euro Open by Nissan championship, earning a Minardi Formula One test and a drive with a Minardi-backed F3000 team. He finished fourth in the 2000 International Formula 3000 championship.

Alonso made his Formula One debut with Minardi in 2001 and joined Renault as a test driver in 2002. He returned to a race seat in 2003, when he became the youngest Formula One pole-sitter at the Malaysian Grand Prix and the youngest Grand Prix winner at the Hungarian Grand Prix at that time.

In 2005, Alonso won seven races and secured his first Drivers' Championship with Renault, becoming the sport's youngest World Champion at the age of 24. He successfully defended the title in 2006 after a season-long contest with Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, becoming the youngest double World Champion at that time.

Alonso moved to McLaren in 2007 and finished third in the championship, one point behind Kimi Räikkönen and level on points with teammate Lewis Hamilton. A fractious relationship with the team ended after one season, and Alonso returned to Renault for 2008 and 2009.

Alonso joined Ferrari in 2010 and won his first race for the team in Bahrain. He finished runner-up to Sebastian Vettel by four points that season and came close to a third championship again in 2012, missing the title by three points. He was also runner-up in 2013, when he won the Chinese and Spanish Grands Prix.

He returned to McLaren in 2015 for its partnership with Honda, but the car was hindered by severe reliability and performance problems. Alonso finished fifth at the 2017 Indianapolis 500 after leading 27 laps before retiring with an engine failure, and he was voted Rookie of the Year. He left Formula One at the end of 2018 after 18 seasons.

During his time away from Formula One, Alonso won the 2018-2019 FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota, took two victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, won the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona, and competed in the Dakar Rally. He returned to Formula One with the rebranded Alpine team in 2021, scoring a podium at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Alonso joined Aston Martin in 2023 and scored eight podiums in his first season with the team, finishing fourth in the Drivers' Championship. In 2024, he became the first Formula One driver to reach 400 Grand Prix starts.