Thrills and occasional spills is the Alonso way

Formula One: Young Spaniard fast making an impression in bid to be next big thing

Two years ago only the cognoscenti of Formula One appreciated what had arrived in their midst, in the form of a diminutive kid who spoke with the soft lisp of Andalucia and appeared not to have the slightest interest in self-promotion. Others were more concerned with the rambunctious Juan Pablo Montoya, fresh from the American ChampCar circuit and supplanting the blue-eyed Brit Jenson Button at BMW-Williams, or whether the monosyllabic Finn Kimi Raikkonen was going to do something daft at the wheel of a Sauber-Petronas that would make the FIA revoke his grudgingly granted super- licence. After all, nobody had ever gone from Formula Renault to Formula One in one jump.

Fernando Alonso had won the Formula 3000 finale at Spa Francorchamps in 2000, racing on one of the fastest tracks in the world, and he had won well. But where Montoya and Raikkonen had entered Formula One with strong teams (BMW-Williams were resurgent and Sauber- Petronas were about to hit peak form), Alonso went in with Minardi, even then perennial strugglers. But it had proved a good springboard to greater things for both Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli, and Formula One was Formula One.

Alonso wasn't too bothered what he drove, so long as he drove something in the category. It was the perfect way to graduate, with low pressure and the ideal chance to learn. Alonso didn't score any fantastic results. The days when a rookie could do that in a low-grid car have long gone. But he impressed.

One of the people who very much liked what they saw was Peter Collins, formerly the team manager at Williams, Benetton and Lotus and the man who helped further the careers of drivers such as Nigel Mansell, Johnny Herbert, Alex Zanardi, Raikkonen and new star-elect Vitantonio Liuzzi. "Alonso has everything you look for in a young driver destined for the top," Collins says. "He has great raw speed, excellent car control, is very cool under pressure and a suitable level of genuine self-confidence rather than flashy arrogance."

That wasn't enough to keep him racing in Formula One in 2002, when he was signed by Flavio Briatore at Renault, but he was merely treading water until the Italian could get rid of Button and shoehorn his new protégé into a race seat alongside Trulli for 2003. "In his role as test driver, Alonso logged valuable miles," Collins continues. "It is usually questionable whether a year without racing is a good thing, but this season Alonso has proved without doubt that he has lost none of his raw skill."

The 22-year-old from Oviedo has been winning in karting, and every other level at which he has competed, since he was a child. When he first stepped aboard the Astromega team's Formula 3000 Lola at the end of 1999, he was immediately quick. But if he had a failing, it was a streak of impetuosity. It is something that many of the great champions have had to learn to temper. He was quick but occasionally erratic.

Only recently, his shunt when he ran at full speed into one of the wheels detached from Mark Webber's Jaguar at Interlagos, having ignored yellow warning flags, is a case in point. But he shrugged off two big impacts – 35g and 33g – either of which would have smashed his legs only a few years ago. Back in 1991 Michael Schumacher did the same after crashing his Benetton while trying to take Suzuka's notorious 130R bend flat out. When the FIA medic Professor Sid Watkins advised him that he had a nice physique and would make a handsome corpse if he didn't slow down a tad, Schumacher merely climbed off the examination table, and went out to drive his team-mate Nelson Piquet's spare car faster still. At Imola and Barcelona, it was evident that Alonso carried no psychological baggage from his accident, either.

The race engineer Rob Smedley, now with Jordan, worked with him at Astromega and has no doubt about his star quality. "I think the early part of Fernando's F3000 season was a bit of a reality check for him. He had always found it easy to be competitive, and suddenly it was a lot harder. He had more to learn than he first realised. He had to learn how to apply his skill to get the best from the car. But give him the right car and he'll be blisteringly quick."

Despite his tender years, Alonso is blessed in his race craft, his mental approach, and his coolness under fire. And he is learning more and more when to push and when to bide his time.

Collins has no doubts we are witnessing the birth of a new phenomenon. "Alonso is an exciting talent with an elegant and committed driving style," he says. "He will become one of the great stars."