Fernando Alonso

Fernando’s story is one of a child highly gifted behind the wheel, who, from the beginning, could count on his father's support and enthusiasm, and that of all the family. As a boy, José Luis Alonso, an explosives expert, dreamt of go-kart racing, and tried to instil this enthusiasm into his daughter, Lorena, who he tried to start off in competitions at the age of 8 with a kart he had made himself. The experiment was a failure, since speed was not her thing, and Fernando “inherited” the racing kart, although he was only three years old.

Some of the pedals had to be adapted so that the youngster could drive. From that moment, he showed some skill and his father started to see his hopes fulfilled.

“At the beginning it was just a game, but when he was five or six years old, it was clear that he was outshining other children of his age,” comments José Luis, who was Fernando’s mechanic until he was twelve years old. Fernando “played” with the kart until 1988, gaining his first victory in Pola de Laviana, in June 1988, where he competed in a junior race for the first time, and winning the title that year, having won all 8 races.

Fernando was not only a prodigy behind the wheel, but he also got good marks at his school, Santo Ángel de la Guarda, which meant that his mother raised no objections to father and son going from circuit to circuit every weekend.

“We had to build the circuits with bales of straw so that the kids could race. We went round all the village fiestas that held a race. We had to help build the circuit, and see to the kids, but it was really satisfying to watch them race,” comments José Luis, and of course, although he does not say it, to watch Fernando win.

At eight, he went outside Asturias to win the Galician championship, as well as the Asturian, in the junior class. In 1990, he triumphed again in Asturias and Navarre, this time in the cadet class. In 1991, things started to get a bit out of hand, since the trips to Madrid and other provinces were continuous and the cost of materials was very high. He came second in the Spanish championship at the Santos de la Humosa circuit, between Guadalajara and Madrid, fighting against Antonio García and Santiago Porteiro. “We could not afford to send Fernando into higher competitions. The costs had shot up,” says José Luis. “Fernando was always aware of the efforts made by the whole family. Me going to all the races acting as mechanic, his mother putting up with her son being away every weekend, which is when he could have been with her, Lorena not seeing her brother as much as she would like, and the money it involved. The only way of carrying on was for Fernando to win races and someone to spot him as a future talent, since no official body or company out of all those we had asked, lent us a helping hand. Fernando knew that it depended on him alone to continue, and he did not fail.” In 1992, he raced in the 100cc class, with special permission from the Federation, since he should still have been competing in the cadets at that age. “I have always been the youngest in every category, perhaps because of that, I am used to breaking that sort of record, and perhaps it impresses me less than it should. Although it may seem that I do not go mad about all these achievements, I do value them, but perhaps I have been spoilt. I have always been the youngest in all the classes I have raced in,” Fernando often says.

He took the definitive step in this part of his sporting life when competing in a race in Mora de Ebro (Tarragona) in 1993.

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