Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) reached the mark of 400 F1 starts, a record, on Sunday at the Qatar Grand Prix, the 23rd and penultimate round of the season.
The Spanish veteran, who celebrated his 43rd birthday in July, is the first driver in history to reach this mark. His first pursuer, the six-time British world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), recorded his 355th start on Sunday on the Losail circuit.
Alonso, double world champion (2005, 2006), is competing this year in his 21st season in the premier discipline of motorsport, which he discovered in 2001 at the wheel of a Minardi single-seater.
Without a steering wheel in 2002 but also in 2019 and 2020, the native of Oviedo (Asturias) drove for Renault three times, completed two stints with McLaren, one with Ferrari and in 2023 discovered his current team, Aston Martin.
For the record, if he officially reached 400 starts in F1 on Sunday in Qatar, some consider that he has 401. Indeed, during his first season in 2001, his car broke down on the first lap of the Belgian GP and he was forced to retire. But a big accident led to a red flag on the second lap, and when the race was restarted, Alonso was considered a non-starter.
The Spaniard, who won the championship with the French brand twice, and was also world vice-champion three times with Ferrari (2010, 2012, 2013), has 32 victories, 106 podiums and 22 pole positions to his name. prize list.
Alonso also won the World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2018/2019 with Toyota, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice (2018, 2019) and the 24 Hours of Daytona (2019). In 2020, the versatile driver also competed in the Dakar Rally (13th) and the Indianapolis 500 (21st).
Last spring, the Spaniard extended his contract with Aston Martin, which expired at the end of December, by “several years”which means that he should still play at least the 2025 and 2026 seasons, the year in which he will celebrate his 45th birthday.
