Friday, September 14, 2007

100 GRANDS PRIX FOR FERNANDO ALONSO

The 2007 Turkish Grand Prix marks the 100th Formula 1 race for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso. Having only just turned 26 the reigning double World Champion has accumulated some impressive statistics over this period; here are a few of them:




• At the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix he became the youngest driver to ever win a Formula 1 World Championship. He was 24 years and 59 days old.

• In 2006 he went on to secure the Drivers’ World Championship for a second consecutive year, making him the youngest ever double World Champion.

• Fernando also holds the record for the youngest driver to win a race: when he won the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2003 it was 26 days after his 22nd Birthday.

• Fernando has stood on the top step of the podium a total of 18 times in his Formula 1 career to date.

• He has finished on the podium on 44 separate occasions, eight times as a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver.

• At the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix Fernando scored his first career Pole Position and at 21 years and 236 days he was the youngest driver to ever achieve this.

• He has since gone on to score a total of 16 Pole Positions.

• Fernando has scored 454 points in his 99 Grands Prix to date, which works out as an average of 4.58 per race. In 2007, his average points score at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes per race currently stands at 6.63.

• Fernando Alonso made his race debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix on 4th March, driving for the Minardi F1 team. The Spaniard finished in 12th position.

• Over the five and a half seasons that he has competed in Formula 1 Fernando has been leading a race for a total of 4,938km’s.

• Fernando’s success has had a major impact on the popularity of Formula 1 in Spain and at the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 2007 launch in Valencia over 200,000 Spanish fans lined the streets to see their national hero.

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