The 26 year old Spanish driver has become a national hero. The reigning double World Champion has accumulated some impressive statistics over his career.

The 2007 Turkish Grand Prix marks the 100th Formula 1 race for Alonso.

At the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix he became the youngest driver to ever win a Formula 1 World Championship. He was 24 years and 59 days old.

In 2006 he became the youngest ever driver to win double World Championship title in a row.

The record for the youngest driver to win a race goes to Alonso as well. When he won the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2003 it was 26 days after his 22 Birthday.

Alonso has stood on the top step of the podium a total of 18 times in his Formula 1 career to date and he has finished on the podium on 44 separate occasions.

He has scored a total of 16 Pole Positions and 454 points in his 99 Grands Prix to date. Easy calculation shows that his average score is 4.58 per race. With Vodafone McLaren Mercedes his average score is 6.63 so far.

Over the five and a half seasons that he has competed in Formula 1 Alonso has been leading a race for a total of 4,938 kms.

But the most important contribution he has made is that his success has had a major impact on the popularity of Formula 1 in Spain. I believe many teenagers dream of following his steps.

Photo source www.grandprix.com