Fernando Alonso has taken his Christmas shopping to the next level this year by gifting a very unique present to his parents, Jose Luis Alonso and Ana Diaz. Earlier this month, the two-time world champion was at Motorland Aragon, driving Ayrton Senna’s 1990 McLaren MP 4/5B.
Now, he’s decided to break the bank for the car and gift it to his parents. And the reason behind this particular gift is ever so moving.
When the Spanish racing ace started out in karts, his parents were inspired by the Brazilian racing icon’s McLaren livery and painted Alonso’s first kart in those colors. Today, the #14 driver thanks his parents by gifting them the car driven by Senna throughout the 1990 season en route to his second world title.
[@DAZN_ES] Imagine your child buying you an F1 car that Ayrton Senna himself drove on circuits around the world… That’s exactly what Fernando Alonso has done. He gifted his parents the car that inspired them to paint one of his first karts.
byu/OldActiveYeast informula1
Jose was an amateur kart driver, inspiring Fernando to fall in love with the sport from the age of 3. His mother Ana was equally invested in his journey, using her professional sewing skills to make racing outfits for him so that they could also save up on money.
Coming from a humble background, both his parents made it clear to Fernando that education was always the No.1 priority and only if he did well in that, he could continue racing. Alonso has been appreciative of the sacrifices his parents made and the family values they instilled in him.
“The weekends were probably a nightmare for (my parents) because they needed to take the car, they needed to drive maybe 10 hours with me asleep in the back and then have a race somewhere – and then come home because they needed to work and I needed to go to school.
“I needed to do all the exams. I missed a lot of lessons and I needed to recover. I needed to recover in the back of the car reading books, so that was my school probably,” Alonso said in a CNN interview in 2014.
Once Alonso was sure about taking up racing seriously, it was Senna’s McLaren which planted the seeds for his dream of becoming the very best in Formula 1. And years later, that dream is very much alive for the 43-year-old from Oviedo.
Alonso is still gunning for his third world title with Aston Martin
Earlier this season, the #14 driver penned down a multi-year deal with Aston Martin that will see him race in F1 at least till the end of the 2026 season. And Alonso’s extension isn’t just about raking in the millions from Lawrence Stroll.
The former Ferrari driver has made it very clear that he is still as hungry as ever to win with Aston Martin. “I still dream. Why not? I know 2026 is probably my only chance because 2025 is extremely difficult, but I am still dreaming,” he said about his hopes of winning that elusive third title as per BBC.
In all fairness, given the apparent pace deficit of the AMR24, many would believe that Alonso is way too optimistic. However, with the regulations reset in 2026, a works Honda engine deal and Adrian Newey designing the chassis, it could be the year when Alonso finally lifts the silverware in F1 that has eluded him since 2013.
