The many F1 colours of Fernando Alonso

Heading into his 20th world championship season in 2023, Fernando Alonso has joined the fifth different F1 factory of his career with Aston Martin.

As he prepares for the reveal of the team’s AMR23 tomorrow, it will be the first time that Alonso has raced in British Racing Green in his Formula 1 career.

But it will not be the first time the double-world champion has driven an F1 car in the famous traditional racing colours of the United Kingdom. In fact, it’s hard to think of a colour Alonso hasn’t raced with over his long career.

Here is a look back at the technicolour Formula 1 career of Fernando Alonso.

2001 – Minardi (black)

Alonso arrived into Formula 1 still a teenager at only 19 years of age. An impressive F3000 season in 2000 convinced new Minardi owner Paul Stoddart to put Alonso in the car for the 2001 season. Alonso scored no points but proved he was a star of the future by putting in some impressive performances in the slower car on the grid. Minardi’s all-black livery meant he entered F1 without any colour at all.

2002 – Jaguar (green)

He did not race in 2002, but he signed with Renault as a test driver, running many days of testing. He also had a single day of running in a Jaguar R3 at Silverstone, in which he sported British Racing Green for the first time in Formula 1.

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2003-2006 – Renault (turquoise and yellow)

When Alonso rejoined the grid in 2003 with Renault, he was immediately competitive, becoming the youngest ever grand prix winner by taking victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix. In the colours of the team’s title tobacco sponsor and Renault yellow, Alonso would enjoy four successful seasons, including his two world championship titles in 2005 and 2006.

2007 – McLaren (chrome and red)

Alonso shocked the F1 world by signing with McLaren for 2007, swapping to the chrome and red that McLaren adopted for many years with sponsor Vodafone. Although he signed a three-year deal, Alonso would leave at the end of the season after his relationship with team boss Ron Dennis deteriorated over tensions with star rookie team mate Lewis Hamilton.

2008-2009 – Renault (white, yellow and red)

Rejoining Renault for 2008, Alonso raced in predominately white colours of new sponsors ING with the yellow of Renault providing a splash of colour. Over two years in which Renault were not fighting for the championship, he managed to secure two wins in 2008 – one in controversial fashion in Singapore after team mate Nelson Piquet Jnr deliberately crashed to bring out a Safety Car and a second in Japan where he was unquestionably deserving.

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2010-2014 – Ferrari (red)

After two years out of the championship picture, Ferrari beckoned for Alonso to spearhead their 2010 campaign. He won in his first race in scarlet and was agonizingly close to winning that year’s championship. In five years at Ferrari, Alonso won 11 grands prix but failed to claim that elusive third title.

2015-2018 – McLaren (orange)

With Honda entering Formula 1 in 2015 with a V6 turbo power unit, Alonso swapped back to Woking in pursuit of another title. It proved a disastrous move, with Honda suffering regular failures as well as being underpowered compared to its rivals. After two years of plain black and red, McLaren began to embrace the papaya orange of its New Zealand heritage in 2017, finally going full orange in 2018. Alonso announced his retirement at the end of the season and raced in the Indy 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours, winning the latter twice.

2020 – Renault (black and yellow)

After the pandemic struck in 2020, Alonso announced he planned to return to F1 for 2021 with Alpine, the rebranded Renault team. But before the team completed their transition, Alonso competed in the ‘young driver’ test at Abu Dhabi in Renault’s striking black and yellow livery.

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2021-2022 – Alpine (blue and pink)

Back on the grid for 2021, Alonso raced mostly in the light blue brand colour of Alpine. However, at the start of the 2022 season, Alpine ran in the light pink colours of new title sponsor BWT, who had previously supported Force India and Racing Point in the preceding seasons. Alonso ran in pink for the first two rounds of the year in Bahrain and Jeddah.

2023 – Aston Martin (green)

One day after the Hungarian Grand Prix, Aston Martin stunned the paddock by announcing they had signed the 41-year-old Alonso to a multi-year contract for 2023 and beyond. Joining his sixth different factory of his career, Alonso will run in Aston Martin’s traditional British Racing Green for the first time this year after running in green during his one day test for Jaguar in 2002. Whether British Racing Green will prove a fortunate colour for the most experienced driver in F1 history remains to be seen…

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