Born in Oviedo, Asturias to a working-class family, Alonso began kart racing aged three and achieved success in local, national, and world championships.

[1] Alonso won the 2001 Race of Champions Nations Cup with the rally driver Jesús Puras and the motorcyclist Rubén Xaus for Team Spain and thrice entered the Indianapolis 500 in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

[4][5] He is the son of the mine shaft explosives factory mechanic and amateur kart driver José Luis Alonso,[5][6] and his wife,[6] the department store employee Ana Díaz.

He took pole position for the French Grand Prix but achieved no race victories en route to fourth in the World Drivers' Championship with 59 points.

[33] Alonso eclipsed Emerson Fittipaldi as the youngest World Drivers' Champion, having won seven victories, six pole positions and fourteen podium finishes for 133 points altogether.

[12][29] An Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; F1's governing body)-imposed ban on Renault's tuned mass damper device to slow Alonso and an increase of development into Schumacher's Ferrari for competitiveness saw the two tied on points entering the season's penultimate round, the Japanese Grand Prix.

[42] Prior to the season's final round, the Brazilian Grand Prix, he had 103 championship points to Räikkönen's 100 and Hamilton's 107, and needed to win the race and for his teammate to finish third or lower for his third title.

[63] He extracted additional pace from his car to claim ten podium finishes and win the British Grand Prix after a strategy error from Red Bull.

[12][69] He was slower than Vettel after a change of tyre compound at the German Grand Prix and front and rear bodywork components intended to improve his car's performance were ineffective.

[72] An accident during a pre-season test session at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February 2015 saw Alonso sustain a concussion and he was replaced by reserve driver Kevin Magnussen for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

[12] Alonso stayed at McLaren in 2017,[80] but poor reliability affected his season, particularly during the early rounds, and his best finish was a sixth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

[115] After a seventh-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Alonso ended the season fourth in the standings, scoring 206 points against his teammate Stroll's 74.

Paired with Antonio García, Salvi Delmuns and the journalist Pedro Fermín Flores, the quartet finished third in the M10 class and tenth overall in a Hyundai Accent.

[119] Alonso, Philip Hanson and McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris qualified 13th and finished 38th after multiple mechanical issues affected the car during the race.

[144] McLaren opted to enter just the 2019 Indianapolis 500 due to its focus on Formula One and collaborated with Carlin Motorsport in a logistical and technical partnership and signed an engine supply deal with Chevrolet.

[151] Alonso entered the Dakar Rally with Toyota in 2020 following a five-month testing programme in Africa, Europe and the Middle East and driving a series of races to better himself.

[clarification needed][161] This opinion is shared by Christian Horner, who ruled out signing Alonso for Red Bull, as he caused chaos in previous teams.

[165] According to Jonathan Noble of Motorsport.com, this allows Alonso to "create a kind of natural ABS – fully exploiting tyre grip to achieve greater speeds while turning without locking the wheels.

"[165] Alonso's helmet manufactured by Bieffe (2001), Arai (2003–2009, 2016), Schuberth (2010–2015)[166][167] Bell (2017–)[168] sports the yellow and red colours of the flag of Spain with shades of blue from the Asturias flag and coupled with two silver thunderbolt arrows derived from a remote control car he received as a present in his childhood on top and a yellow Asturian cross (sometimes on the back, other times on the side).

[169] He changed its mainbase colour design when switching teams during his F1 career; in 2008 Alonso attached two pictures of a spade, ace and heart symbol to show he was a two-time world champion.

[173] His final event for Ferrari at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw him wear a helmet with a picture depicting a pit stop in that year in the colour red, signature of various team members and the flag of Italy in the centre.

[174] At the 2017 Indianapolis 500 and the 2017 United States Grand Prix, Alonso sported a black helmet with red, yellow and blue stripes around it and his race number.

The yellow on that area was replaced by gold between two horizontal stripes in red and a thick vertical strip was added with a list of Alonso's 32 F1 race victories.

For the 2023 season, this included Maximilian Günther, Clément Novalak, Nikola Tsolov, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pepe Martí, Han Cenyu, Andrés Cárdenas and Carl Bennett.

[184] Fellow Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr. claimed "there are two Fernandos", alluding to Alonso's defensive nature when criticised because of his shyness, compared to his sense of humour, generosity and kind-nature when not racing.

[186] Journalist Nigel Roebuck calls Alonso "the first world-class racing driver to come out of Spain",[182] and is credited for popularising F1 in the country, where it was once considered a fringe sport and a lesser known form of motorsport than motorcycling and rallying.

[190] Alonso has done business with Banco Santander, Cajastur, TAG Heuer, Europcar, Silestone,[191] Liberbank,[192] ING,[193] Chandon,[194] Adidas,[195] and Bang & Olufsen.

[196] He is the founder and brand ambassador of the fashion retailer Kimoa,[197] and intended to establish the Fernando Alonso Cycling Team to compete in UCI events in 2015 before the project failed to materialise.

[210] Alonso promoted India's efforts to eradicate polio in 2011 and handwashing with soap to school children in 2012,[211][212] whilst he also supported UNICEF's anti-cyberbullying campaign in November 2017.

[220] From November 2006 to December 2011, Alonso was married to Raquel del Rosario, the lead singer of the Spanish pop band El Sueño de Morfeo.