The Fernando Alonso Ecosystem
He's preparing racing for life after him
There are some athletes who treat investing like a postscript, an afterthought, a safety net. A responsible hedge against the day the contracts stop coming.
Fernando Alonso is not one of those athletes.
If you look closely at what Alonso has built away from Formula 1 over more than a decade, you’ll see a pattern emerge. Not diversification for diversification’s sake, but rather, vertical integration.
Not random endorsements, but infrastructure.
Alonso isn’t throwing capital around for investment sake. Rather, he’s reinforcing a system he knows intimately because he’s been in it since he was 3 years old. What Alonso is building is more ecosystem than simply a portfolio.
Alonso’s story, of course, starts with karting in Asturias, at the very north of Spain. He received his first kart at age 3 and, by all accounts, was a young driver with uncommon intensity and an obsessive relationship with craft. That origin story matters because, unlike some champions who sprint away from their beginnings, Alonso has spent his post-peak years circling back.
The most literal expression of that is the Museo y Circuito Fernando Alonso in Asturias. On the surface, it’s a museum and a karting circuit. In reality, it’s something far more strategic: a permanent piece of motorsport infrastructure. A place for history, access, and participation to coexist. It’s his legacy, indeed, but it’s also functioning as a gateway into the sport.
That same philosophy underpins FA Alonso Kart, Alonso’s karting brand and development platform. This isn’t a vanity project for him. It’s a serious presence and foundational layer of driver development. Alonso understands that every Formula 1 grid begins in karting, and rather than simply reminisce about ‘the good old days’, he chose to embed himself in it commercially and structurally.
You’ll find this is a recurring theme in everything he touches: Fernando doesn’t just invest at the surface level. This man goes upstream.
When he launched Kimoa in 2017, it was positioned publicly as a lifestyle brand, but the deeper play was control. Alonso wasn’t licensing his name to an apparel company like so many others; he was building a brand rooted in identity, movement, and values. Travel, exploration, sport, and sustainability.
Kimoa didn’t exist to sell hoodies to racing fans. It exists as a brand that can endure without lap times. A very important distinction.
Kimoa gave Alonso something many drivers never achieve: brand relevance completely untethered from his results on track.
Even after selling a majority stake, he remained meaningfully involved, signalling that this was more of a foundation than a flip.
Then came perhaps the most telling move of all: A14 Management.
With A14, Alonso formalized something he had been doing informally for years: advising, mentoring, and guiding younger drivers through the complexities of modern motorsport.
A14 positions Alonso not just as a former champion, but also as a stakeholder in talent identification, career strategy, contract negotiation, and, very importantly for young drivers, financial literacy.
These are things some drivers rarely understand until it’s too late. These also happen to be the things Alonso, a shrewd fox, understands intimately.
This is where his investment philosophy becomes obvious.
Alonso isn’t betting on startups he doesn’t understand. He’s monetizing his experience. He’s converting decades of accumulated knowledge into his own asset class. And by doing so, he’s placing himself at the center of future grids as an architect of success stories.
This way of investing (building inward, compounding his expertise) separates Alonso from other athletes who diversify outward and monetize their fame. Some drivers prepare for life after racing, Alonso has been preparing racing for life after him.
And if you have followed his career over the past 25 years (!!!!), you‘ll know that is a very Fernando Alonso thing to do. He is nothing if not relentless, strategic, and defiant. Never satisfied with just being part of the system, he would rather shape it.
Secure Your Place on the Grid
Business of Speed is now securing partnerships for the year ahead.
We are offering a unified package that covers digital reach (Newsletter + Podcast) and physical presence (On-site Ambassadorship).
Because of the time commitment required for on-site activation, inventory for these annual tiers is strictly limited.
Serious inquiries only. Email: ciao@bizofspeed.com
More from Business of Speed
 | A guest post by
|
Quite a good read