F1
Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso is checking out of the sport at the end of 2018 so we've recapped the ups and downs of his dazzling, but complicated career.
The last time Fernando Alonso sprayed champagne on the top step of a Formula One podium was at his home race in Spain way back in May 2013, but to many fans he remains the best racing driver in the world and sixth in the all-time F1 winners list, with 32 victories.
In four disappointing seasons with the once mighty McLaren team, the best results Alsono has chalked up have been a smattering of fifth places, and his frustration and growing apathy with F1 has been both painful and public. He missed the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix to race brilliantly at the Indianapolis 500 and won the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours as part of his quest to win motor racing's hallowed Triple Crown. Now, Alonso's announced his retirement from F1 for good at the end of the 2018, bringing to a close one of the great racing careers of recent years.
One thing's for sure, no look back at Alonso's career in F1 is complete without assessing the good, the bad and the ugly. Here's some of the highlights and lowlights of his time in F1.
High: Those two consecutive world titles with Renault
After a strong debut season in 2001, driving for the back-of-the-grid Minardi team, and two years testing for Benetton and Renault, Alonso got a full-time drive with Renault for the 2003 season.
Two seasons challenging the might of Ferrari, McLaren and Williams followed, and by 2004 Alonso had the makings of a championship-winning car.
Fast, ruthless and a great strategist, in 2005 and 2006 Alonso took 14 race wins for Renault, breaking the dominance of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, and firmly establishing himself as F1's new main man. At this point in his career it seems like it wasn't a case of whether Alonso would win another title, but how many?
Low: The 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix
In 2007, as reigning Formula One world champion, Alonso followed in the footsteps of the likes of Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Niki Lauda by joining the mighty McLaren team. There was one problem – a rookie team-mate called Lewis Hamilton.
On paper it looked good and Alonso claimed four wins and eight podium finishes, but the friction behind the scenes at McLaren was there for all to see between the double world champion and his superfast new team-mate.
It came to a head at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix. With time running out in qualifying, Alonso pitted for longer than necessary, delaying Hamilton in the sister McLaren and costing him precious seconds, ruining his chance of turning in a final fast lap. This gave Alonso pole position. The result: an explosion of inter-team squabbling, a five place grid penalty for Alonso and a 15 point penalty for the team.
Low: Spy-gate
It wasn't just the friction with Lewis Hamilton and the antics of the Hungarian Grand Prix that turned Alonso and McLaren's relationship sour. In fact, 2007 proved a huge turning point in Alonso's career.
In short, McLaren boss Ron Dennis had promised Alonso team leader status over rookie Hamilton when he signed with the team. This didn't happen and the furious Alonso sensationally threatened to pass on incriminating emails to the sport's governing body, the FIA, proving that McLaren were illegally snooping on rivals Ferrari.
This was all part of the very messy 'spy-gate' case, where Ferrari accused McLaren of spying on them, and by the time Alonso apologised to his team and promised to withdraw his evidence, it was too late.
Dennis admitted the charges and McLaren were lucky to get away with a $100m fine. Engine supplier Mercedes were also slapped with a huge fine, and this is the reason Alonso never had a sniff of driving for the now all-conquering AMG Mercedes F1 team.
High: The Ferrari years
Alonso's tenure with Ferrari will surely provide F1 history with his most iconic images. Forget the two world titles, between 2010 and 2014, Alonso embraced the passion and the legacy of the prancing horse, and much like Niki Lauda in the 1970s, dragged the under-achieving Italian giant into world title contention.
In 2010 and 2012 in particular, Alonso turned in some superhuman drives when the car really had no right to be anywhere near the dominant Red Bull Racing cars. However in those years he took the world championship battle down to the final race in two of the most thrilling climaxes to a F1 season ever.
In 2012 especially, the fact that he pushed Sebastian Vettel so close in a car that was only the fourth quickest on the grid underlines his ability not just as a driver, but as a strategist and team member.
Low: "Fernando is faster than you"
Team orders in Formula One are as old as the sport itself, but when they were blatantly played out in Alonso's favour during the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in 2010, it left a very bad taste.
Deep into the race, Alonso's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa was leading from the Spaniard. Alonso needed the win, and the points haul that came with it, to keep in contention for the title and complained loudly over the radio, forcing his team's hand. The result was Massa's engineer Rob Smedley uttering the famous message, 'Ok, so Fernando is faster than you', which was a coded message for Massa to give his position up.
Massa duly obliged, Alonso took a pretty unpopular victory and Ferrari were fined by the FIA.
Hight: Passing Schumacher at Suzuka
No F1 career is complete without a breathtaking overtaking move that fans love to remember. Like Eau Rouge at Spa Francorchamps, the unspectacularly named 130R at Japan's Suzuka circuit is one of those corners laden with mythology, and in 2005 Alonso pulled off one of the most audacious passing moves ever there.
In the flat-out run up to this daunting left-hand turn, Alonso, the young pretender in his Renault, pulled alongside the seven-time world champ Michael Schumacher and somehow drove around the outside of German's Ferrari. Yes, the Renault was much quicker than the Ferrari that day, but it remains a thrilling piece of racecraft and a memorable way to round off winning a championship.
Low: McLaren part II
Rejoining McLaren with Honda power in 2015 was always going to be a gamble for Alonso. Frustration, car failure, lack of power and race after race suffering problems have sullied the once great name of McLaren, and Alonso has been a reluctant witness.
How bad has it been? Well, in four years one of the highest profile moments for driver and team has been a well-travelled meme generated at the 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix involving a retired Alonso sunning himself in a deck chair accompanied by the hashtag #placesalonsowouldratherbe.
Five fifth place finishes in four seasons will probably be Alonso's best return from his final years in F1 – a pretty brutal reality for a driver more often than not pointed to as the best of his generation.
High: 2012 European Grand Prix
Alonso and Ferrari's 2012 F1 campaign was a gloriously plucky attempt to wrestle the crown from the dominant combination of Renault and Red Bull Racing, and his performance on the streets circuit in Valencia, Spain, proved a career highlight.
Despite starting the race from 11th on the grid, Alonso drove a masterful race, combining ruthless overtaking, perfect strategy and tyre management to take an unlikely win. His victory lap with Spanish flag in hand and tears of joy on the podium capped off a memorable Sunday afternoon and one of the best races of his career.
What now?
Alonso has made no secret of his aim to complete the Triple Crown of Motorsport. He's already won two parts of this coveted, unofficial award by winning the Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans 24 Hours. The third goal is Indianapolis 500 victory.
In 2016, Alonso impressed at the Indy 500, qualifying well and running in the lead of the fast and furious event until his Honda engine gave up.
He's made no secret of his desire to compete full-time in the resurgent IndyCar series, and much online chatter is linking him with a drive at front-running, multiple Indy 500 winners Andretti Autosport.
Don't forget, Alonso is competing in the full World Endurance Championship this year so don't be surprised to see him slipping out of the F1 paddock and into a mix of ovals, street circuits and endurance races. Nobody would be surprised if he went and completed the triple crown, won the WEC title and then went onto win the IndyCar championship. Watch this space.
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