Fernando ALONSO

A Spanish driver

Fernando Alonso turned 36 years old in 2017, and has set himself one major objective: to win the Triple Crown, the reward of F1 winners who are also winners of the Indianapolis 500 Miles and of the 24 Hours. This holy grail of motor racing drivers has still only been reached by Graham Hill thanks to his victory alongside Henri Pescarolo at Le Mans in 1972.

Fernando Alonso has been forced to retire in the United States every time he has taken part there. 

On the other hand, he has been a success at Le Mans. He recorded two consecutive victories for his two appearances alongside Kazuki Nakajima and Sébastien Buemi in the Toyota no. 8 both in 2018 and 2019.

He therefore became the first driver to have won the Formula 1 and Endurance world championships. Only two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Petter Solberg, are world champions in two separate motor racing disciplines.

As a fan of football and cycling, Fernando was introduced to karting from an early age thanks to his father, who is a motorsports enthusiast.

He became the first Spaniard to win a Grand Prix during his debut year in F1 with Renault in 2003, aged only 22, and broke a record for precocity set by Bruce McLaren in 1959.

Nicknamed the 'Bull of Asturias' by the media and his supporters, Alonso helped make Formula 1 popular in Spain to the extent that there has been talk of an ‘Alonsomania’ ever since 2003. Him coming to Le Mans to get the race under way in 2014 and then as a driver in 2018 and 2019 certainly was both a sporting and media event.

The Spaniard exceeded the record for the number of Grand Prix races contested in Formula 1 in 2022. He is now in his twentieth season in the discipline as of 2023. This longevity is exceptional.

Fernando Alonso now wears the colours of the famous British model, Aston Martin.

Just like Toyota did, Aston Martin won the Le Mans race when it took part for the twentieth time.

Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori won the race in 1959. Paul Frère and Maurice Trintignant finished second.

It was therefore a double for the British manufacturer just like it was for the Japanese back in 2018.

This monument, created in 1927 by the sculptor Ernest Charles Diosi, pays homage to Louis Zborowski, the historic director at Aston Martin. It was to be erected on the edge of the Monza track in Italy, where the benefactor driver died, albeit the Italians refused it out of superstition. It was then offered to the Automobile Club de l'Ouest.

It was inaugurated on the Chemin de Laigné, on the course of the motor circuit in the presence of the mayor of Le Mans, Arsène Le Feuvre on 16th June, 1928. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest and the City of Le Mans decided that the monument be positioned in the garden of Tessé where it still stands from after the circuit layout was changed in 1930.

The name of Louis Zborowski (1896-1924) is synonymous to a real car that has become legendary thanks to Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond), Roald Dahl, and to films: the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.