Fernando Alonso to leave Formula 1 at end of season
Thursday, August 16, 2018 @ 12:57 PM
TWICE-WORLD champion Fernando Alonso has announced he will be retiring from Formula 1 at the end of 2018 after 17 seasons.
The Oviedo-born motorsport legend, who has suffered a series of disappointing seasons with Ferrari and later McLaren who have both failed to provide him with a competitive car, was nevertheless a force to be reckoned with when racing for Rénault, a team that saw him carry off the championship in 2005 and 2006.
The first of these came after German legend Michael Schumacher's five world titles on the trot and, at 24, he was the youngest to wind the drivers' championship.
Since then, Alonso has also been reserve champion three times and made it to the podium in 97 races, 32 of which he won, despite only getting pole 22 times.
His victories after starting further back on the grid included his last-ever Formula 1 Grand Prix win on home turf in Valencia, when he roared up from 11th to cross the chequered flag ahead of everyone else – a supreme effort that was so taxing even for a talent of Alonso's magnitude that he actually broke down in tears at the end.
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