Alonso showed championship credentials on F1 debut

Speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Stoddart reflected on Alonso’s rookie season as the Spaniard joined Minardi at the age of 19.

Alonso joined a team that was close to going out of business before Stoddart’s European charter airline company bought it in December 2000, and turned up for his first race at Melbourne in the following year with minimal experience of the PS01 car.

Stoddart felt that Alonso immediately proved himself as a star in the making at…