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These Formula 1 drivers were not even born when Alonso debuted in F1
- Jeroen Immink
Fernando Alonso will reach a mega milestone this F1 weekend in Mexico. The Spaniard - currently the record holder when it comes to number of Formula 1 races- will compete in his 400th (!) Grand Prix weekend. These drivers were not even born when Alonso debuted in Formula 1.
Three drivers were not born when Alonso made his debut
Alonso made his Formula 1 debut in 2001 with the Minardi team. Back then, three drivers on the current grid were not even born yet: Oscar Piastri, Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson. In addition, Yuki Tsunoda was just 10 months old, and Guanyu Zhou and Lando Norris were only one year old.
Max Verstappen was three years old. In fact, his father, Jos Verstappen, was still racing in Formula 1 for the Arrows team at the time. Verstappen junior entered F1 in 2015 and then faced Alonso for the first time. So far, Alonso has won 32 Grands Prix and won two world titles in 2005 and 2006. The Spaniard extended his contract with Aston Martin and will continue racing in 2025 and 2026 at least.
Alonso was absent from the track on Thursday due to illness, and he missed FP1 because he was replaced by Felipe Drugovich as part of the mandatory rookie practice sessions. Incidentally, the Brazilian was less than one year old when Alonso debuted. The 43-year-old driver returned in FP2 and will complete the weekend alongside Lance Stroll.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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