A long time veteran of karting, he was a World Junior Karting champion in 1996, and made the jump to open-wheel cars in 1999, racing the Spanish Nissan Open series. Still only 18 years old, he was series champion that year and immediately earned a ticket to Formula 3000 in 2000. A win at Spa-Francorchamps highlighted a very solid 4th place finish in the drivers' championship and left for Formula 1 after his only season at F3000.
Alonso was the third-youngest driver in F1 history to start a race when he made his debut with Minardi in 2001. While the car was not highly competitive, Alonso did an impressive job with the car he had, providing some great qualifying efforts for a team that's known for being a perennial backmacker.
This earned him a spot with the newly christened Renault team in 2002 as a test driver with Renault promoting him to be a regular driver in 2003. With a much better car than he had in his first F1 stint, Alonso has been a revelation in his first year for the team. He became the youngest driver to win a pole position when he earned on in Malaysia and became the youngest driver to win a race when he took first place in Hungary. Through 13 races he is presently 5th in the driver's championship.
Fernando's success has spawned "Alonsomania" in Spain, as he has become the country's first true star in F1.