Fernando Alonso and his records

Fernando Alonso will turn 42 in three months, but the two-time world champion is still in great shape – no wonder he’s been on the podium in the first three races of the season. The Spanish driver plays for Aston Martin this year and believes that together with this team he can not only achieve new victories, but also take another title.

Once he wanted to win the symbolic Triple Crown, for which he had to win the Monaco Grand Prix (Alonso succeeded twice – in 2006 and 2007), at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (he also has two such achievements) and in the Indy 500. Alonso took part in the famous race on the Indianapolis oval race track three times and even came close to success once, but he still failed to repeat Graham Hill’s long-standing record.

But at least Fernando has also set several records that will last a very long time and perhaps remain in Formula 1 history.

He started 359 Grand Prix (the previous record was held by Kimi Raikkonen and equaled 350 races), and it is clear that this number will only grow for the time being. In addition to the number of kilometers on the circuits of the World Cup, Alonso already has 96608. This figure is also impressive, agree?

The Spaniard’s sporting longevity is also unique: he is already in his 20th season in F1, and this is one more than Rubens Barrichello had in his day. Alonso made his World Cup debut in Melbourne on March 4, 2001. over 22 years ago. In comparison, if Niki Lauda’s career had lasted as long, the Austrian racer would have performed until 1993 and could have competed with Michael Schumacher.

When Alonso first competed in the Grand Prix at the wheel of the Minardi, that car was powered by a still naturally aspirated 3.0-litre V10 engine. One of his opponents in that race was Jos Verstappen, father of Max Verstappen, now a two-time world champion. And for example Oscar Piastri, who made his debut at McLaren this year, was not even born then.

In addition, Alonso’s plans are: “I definitely intend to reach the level of 400 races.”

His physical form is still the envy of many. “When a young rider beat me on the last lap of an exhausting Grand Prix, you could say age has become a barrier. But that doesn’t happen. In general, age gives some advantages, because with it comes experience,” Fernando is sure.

During his career, Alonso competed in 115 racers, including 32 Grand Prix winners and nine world champions. On the one hand, there were 89 drivers older than him in the history of Formula 1, including Louis Chiron in 1955, who started in Monaco at the age of 55, Luigi Fagioli won the French Grand Prix when he was 53, and Juan Manuel Fangio became world champion for the fifth time in 1957, when he was already 46. But at the same time, 61 of these 89 racers performed in the distant 50s, when Formula 1 was completely different.

Therefore, it is worth noting that since the 90s of the last century in the championship there were only four riders older than Alonso. One of them, Michael Schumacher, took the podium in Valencia in 2012 at the age of 43.

The speed of Aston Martin’s car this season gives Alonso every reason to hope that new success awaits him.