The Spanish Grand Prix is one of the oldest in the history of Formula 1, but there have only been 13 Spaniards who have taken the start aboard one of these single-seaters in the world championship of the category.
Spain is known for being one of the great motorcycling superpowers, but things change when we talk about F1. Only eight riders have been able to get points and only one of them has climbed to the top of the podium.
Alfonso de Portago , a sports car driver, was the first to make it into the top three, although he had to share his car with Peter Collins, at the 1956 British GP . He only managed to participate in five races before dying in an accident in the 1957 Mille Miglia. Since then, the country’s participation in F1 has been scant.
We have compiled the five best Spanish drivers in history in a ranking that we have based on what they achieved in the category, but also taking into account the cars they drove.
5. Luis Perez-Sala
Luis Perez-Sala in the Minardi M188 Ford
Seasons: 1988-89
Races Started: 26
Best position: 6th
Podiums: 0
Best classification: 9th
Titles: 0
In an era when grids were big enough to accommodate several rookies each season, the addition of Luis Pérez-Sala in 1988, under the tutelage of Minardi, was fully deserved. The Catalan, who has been the one who has left Marc Gené out, had shone in the F3000 in 1986 and 1987, achieving a total of four victories and being runner-up in the last season with the Lola team.
As a newcomer to F1, Pérez-Sala lined up at Minardi alongside Adrián Campos , who had been outclassed by teammate Alessandro Nannini in his own rookie season in 1987. Pérez-Sala also outperformed Campos, including a good 15th on the grid at Monaco in what was his third GP, and Campos was replaced by Pierluigi Martini after just five rounds.
Martini had struggled in F1 with Minardi in 1985 before moving down to F3000 and proving he was just as good as his teammate, Pérez-Sala, at the Pavesi Ralt team in 1986. He had to rebuild his own F1 career, and he did it to spectacular effect in 1989, with his famous streak of giant-killing performances at the end of the season.
That dwarfed his team-mate, but Pérez-Sala was good enough to score his only F1 point by being sixth at Silverstone, just six seconds behind fifth-placed Martini. Still, he ran out of a car by 1990.
In the 1990s, Pérez-Sala became a front-line fixture in the Spanish Super Touring era with Nissan, returning to the front lines of F1 at the end of 2011 as manager of the ill-fated HRT team founded by Adrián fields. That was just after his nephew, Dani Juncadella, had won the Macau Grand Prix .
4. Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari aboard the Toro Rosso STR04
Seasons: 2009-11
Races Started: 46
Best result: 7th
Podiums: 0
Best classification: 6th
Titles: 0
Jaime Alguersuari , who was part of the Red Bull junior team, was the reigning British F3 champion and racing in Formula Renault 3.5 when he was called up to replace Sébastien Bourdais at Toro Rosso in 2009. At the time, he became the youngest driver to start a world championship race at the Hungarian GP, a record later taken by Max Verstappen.
Alguersuari did not get any points in his eight races that year, but was renewed alongside Sébastien Buemi for 2010. The Spaniard got his first points at the Malaysian GP, the second of that season, and the duel between teammates was very close. Buemi finished ahead of the table, but Alguersuari was ahead in the closing stages of the campaign.
Buemi narrowly beat him in Saturday qualifying in 2011, but suffered some misfortunes and Alguersuari often rode well. That saw him finish ahead in the championship, 14th to Buemi’s 15th.
Seventh places achieved in Italy and Korea were his best results and the latter was perhaps Alguersuari’s best driving performance in F1. However, neither driver had done enough to convince the team that they should stay and they were replaced by Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne for 2012.
A disillusioned Alguersuari contested the inaugural season of Formula E, with a best finish of fourth, before retiring from motorsport for good in 2015, aged 25, to focus on his career as a DJ.
3. Peter of the Rose
2006 Hungarian GP, from left to right: Pedro de la Rosa, second, Jenson Button, winner, and Nick Heidfeld, third.
Seasons: 1999-2002, 2005-06, 2010-12
Races Started: 104
Best result: 2nd
Podiums: 1
Best classification: 4th
Titles: 0
Pedro de la Rosa’s pre-Formula 1 career was very interesting, including the Japanese F3 titles in 1995, the Formula Nippon (now known as the Super Formula) in 1997 and the All-Japan GT championship , also from 1997, along with Michael Krumm.
After test driving for Jordan in 1998, de la Rosa scored a point on his F1 debut for Arrows at the 1999 Australian GP. That was his only point of the season, but the team decided to keep him in the lineup for the year 2000, when Jos Verstappen replaced Tora Takagi as his teammate.
Verstappen overtook de la Rosa in qualifying, but they were a solid pairing and lifted Arrows from ninth in the constructors’ championship to seventh.
De la Rosa joined Eddie Irvine at Jaguar in 2001. He struggled to match the four-time GP winner and would lose his place with the troubled team late the following year. However, his life took a turn for the better.
De la Rosa became a test driver for McLaren, a role he retained for seven years. When Juan Pablo Montoya was injured before the 2005 Bahrain GP , De la Rosa was finally able to get behind the wheel of a top F1 car. He took the MP4-20 to fifth position and set the fastest lap, although he finished more than half a minute behind team leader Kimi Raikkonen.
“Pedro was so in tune with the car and the challenges we were facing that he would often call me at home, after reflecting on a recent track or simulator test, to discuss the correlations,” recalls Mark . Williams , McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering. “He was very committed to improving the car.”
“In Bahrain he gave it his all. After the race he called me and said: ‘The car was fantastic, I had a great time, I am a very happy man now.'”
When a disgruntled Montoya left in mid-2006, de la Rosa got back in the car. Although he was no match for Raikkonen, he consistently scored points and scored his only F1 podium finish, with a second place finish in difficult conditions at the Hungaroring, on a day his team-mate crashed.
De la Rosa returned to life as a test driver before returning to racing with Sauber in 2010. He did a solid job alongside Kamui Kobayashi and the car improved as the season went on, but De la Rosa was replaced by the favourite. of Sauber, Nick Heidfeld, before the end of the campaign.
His F1 rollercoaster ride continued when he was called up again for a one-off race, this time to replace the injured Sergio Pérez at Sauber for the 2011 Canadian GP, but finished outside the top 10.
De la Rosa’s last season in F1 was with the Spanish team HRT in 2012. At 40 years old, De la Rosa pushed hard and generally outperformed team-mate Narain Karthikeyan, but sadly the car was uncompetitive and HRT folded at the end of the season.
De la Rosa’s role was then limited to test and development duties, first with Ferrari and then in Formula E, but he is one of only three Spaniards to have taken part in more than 100 world championship races.
2. Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75, closely followed by Sergio Pérez, Red Bull RB18
Seasons: 2015-present
Races started: 145
Best result: 2nd
Podiums: 9
Best classification: 2nd
Titles: 0
If Carlos Sainz didn’t become the second Spaniard to win a Formula 1 race, it would be absolutely crazy. His nine podium finishes place him tied for fifth on the list of those who have stood on the podium the most times without a victory, and his performance has been impressive in recent years.
Sainz had a mixed record in his climb through the ranks, struggling in F3 and GP3 but winning the Formula Renault 3.5 title in 2014.
The following year, he entered F1 with Toro Rosso as a teammate of fellow rookie Max Verstappen . Verstappen scored more points, but much of the difference was due to the unreliability of the car and Sainz beat Verstappen 10-9 in Saturday’s results.
After Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull for the 2016 fifth round, Sainz comfortably edged out new teammate Daniil Kvyat. He was also brilliant in 2017, his seventh place at the Chinese GP being one of the best performances of the season, and he finished ninth in the final standings.
Sainz felt his future had to lie outside the Red Bull fold and went to Renault for the last four races of 2017. Nico Hulkenberg, his new teammate, overtook him in 2018 but seemed to be a better fit with McLaren when he joined the British for the following season.
It was here that Sainz brought out all his talent. He helped rebuild the battered team alongside rookie Lando Norris, and was often top of the middle, trailing only the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull drivers. Finally, he got his well-deserved first podium finish in his 101st race, at the Brazilian GP .
Sainz’s move to Ferrari for 2021 was announced before the start of the belated 2020 campaign. With constant pressure from Norris, Sainz remained the star and fell just 0.4sec short of his first win at Monza.
Sainz impressed at Ferrari in his first year. Although his team-mate Charles Leclerc’s form peaks were higher, Sainz narrowly edged him out of the standings and managed to get on the podium four times.
The Ferrari F1-75 is the best car that the Spaniard has had in his hands so far in F1, but he has struggled to catch up with Leclerc. Whether he can be a number one driver for a top team or just a very strong number two remains to be seen.
1.Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso, Renault R26, wins ahead of Michael Schumacher, Ferrari 248 F1
Seasons: 2001, 2003-18, 2021-present
Races started: 338
Wins: 32
Podiums: 98
Poles: 22
Titles: 2 (2005-06)
Fernando Alonso is part of the most obvious numbers one in the history of the lists. He is not only the only Spanish driver to have won races in Formula 1, but he is also sixth in the all-time win table, with 32, as well as being a two-time world champion.
Alonso’s rise was meteoric. He started for Minardi in his first F1 season (only his third in motorsport), was a test driver for Renault in 2002, and then took his first win for the French manufacturer at the 2003 Hungarian GP .
He was sixth in qualifying, ran as high as fourth in 2004 despite not having won all year, and then started 2005 with three wins from the first four races. Alonso underlined his status as one of the best drivers of his generation by mounting a brilliant campaign against the speedy McLaren to claim his first F1 title .
Alonso subsequently defeated seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher in 2006 for his second crown before joining McLaren. Thanks to a close, and at times controversial, contest with fellow rookie Lewis Hamilton, both McLaren drivers lost to Raikkonen and Alonso returned to Renault.
Since then, Alonso has had to constantly fight with some F1 cars that were not the best. He scored two wins for Renault in 2008, suffered a winless 2009 and joined Ferrari for 2010.
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F2012, leads the race ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB8 Renault
Alonso, who was practically the sole driver of the popularity of F1 in Spain, was possibly in his best form during his time at Maranello, but Ferrari was never able to give him a car that could fight toe to toe and overcome to Red Bull . Alonso lost the battle against Sebastian Vettel in the final race of 2010 at Abu Dhabi, and fell just three points short of glory in 2012 after one of the best campaigns in F1 history.
Ferrari’s first turbo-hybrid car was not competitive in 2014 and Alonso returned to McLaren. The McLaren-Honda program was, however, a disaster and Alonso was forced to perform heroics simply to get into the points.
During those years, he looked the other way as he pursued the triple crown of motorsports, which is achieved with victories at the Monaco GP , the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans . Alonso briefly led the 2017 Indy 500 and starred for victory at Le Mans in 2018 for Toyota, moving closer to his goal.
Alonso left F1 at the end of 2018 and secured a second Le Mans win, as well as the world endurance title during his absence, before returning to Alpine (formerly known as Renault) for 2021.
Now in his 40s, he remains hungry enough to battle it out with his young team-mate Esteban Ocon, scoring his 98th F1 podium finish at the 2021 Qatar GP . But it seems unlikely that Alonso will get the machinery he needs to get that third F1 crown he craves.
Fernando Alonso at the wheel of the Alpine A522
