Chequered Past
Chequered Past is a Formula 1 history podcast that dives deep into iconic races, legendary drivers, and forgotten moments from motorsport’s rich and dramatic past. Each episode revisits Grand Prix events that took place on the same date in history, uncovering fascinating stories, on-track controversies, and the evolution of F1 through the decades. Whether you're a lifelong fan or new to the sport, Chequered Past offers compelling insights and nostalgia-fuelled storytelling from the world’s fastest sport.
Chequered Past
A is for Alonso: The Driver Who Ended an Era
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We open Season 2 of Chequered Past — The F1 A-Z — with the only driver who could start the alphabet. Fernando Alonso. Two world championships. Thirty-two race wins. More than four hundred Grands Prix across a career that has taken in Formula One, Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship, and three attempts at the Indianapolis 500. And at the time of recording, still racing.
But the statistics only tell part of the story. This episode is about what drives him — and what he's done when the car beneath him wasn't good enough to win at all.
We cover his early life in working-class Oviedo, the kart built for his sister that changed everything, and the path from the karting circuits of northern Spain through Formula 3000 to a debut season at Minardi in the worst car on the grid. We trace his rise through Renault, the championships that followed, the complicated years at McLaren and Ferrari, the Crashgate controversy, the departure from Formula One, the Le Mans victories, the Indy heartbreak, and the return.
Then the Top 5. Our pick of the five races that define Fernando Alonso as a Formula One driver.
The debate question this week: Cyril Abiteboul called Alonso "probably the most complete driver on earth." Nick Heidfeld said the same. Is that verdict right? And if it is — what does it say about a sport that gave him only two world championships?
Music by #Mubert Music Rendering