After being crown Junior Champion of the Spanish capital at the age of eleven and finished third in the same championship in 1998, Alvaro came to national attention thanks to his performances in the Movistar Activa Joven series. In 2001 he moved up to the 125cc Spanish Championship and in 2002 he fought for the title until the final round at Valencia, when he crashed.

In 2002 Alvaro started to compete in the 125cc European Championship and make his debut in the World Championship as a wildcard at four rounds. For the next three season he has been an official rider of the 125cc World Championship, increasing, year by year, his performances.

Alvaro move up to the 250cc where he achieve 28 podiums over the three seasons in this class, including eight wins and the championship runner-up spot in 2008.

Alvaro made the step up to MotoGP with Suzuki and after an intense learning year he showed his exciting premier-class promise on several occasions in 2011.

The 2012 season was Bautista's breakthrough year in MotoGP with the Team San Carlo Honda Gresini: two podium finishes, at Misano and Motegi, and fifth place overall in the championship. In 2013 Alvaro confirmed his undoubted potential, closing a positive growing season collecting nine finishes in the "top five" and making it sixth in the final standings. 2014 has been a difficult season for Alvaro, who could not really get the feel for the bike. Despite that he was able to seal a place on the podium in Le Mans. In 2015 Alvaro faced a new thrilling challenge becoming the official team Aprilia Gresini rider and in 2016 he has been able to put his APRILIA RS-GP in the top ten finish for 7 times so far. Before the end of the 2016 season, Alvaro Bautista and the Aspar Team announced an agreement to compete in the premier class with Ducati.

Bautista made his Superbike debut with the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team. The Spanish rider finished his first year in the WSBK championship with an impressive series of victories, sixteen in total, plus four second places and four third places for a total of 24 podiums out of a total of 36 races, concluding the championship in second position.

Alvaro has sign with HRC factory team, being part of a new project that have the goal to develop the new CBR1000RR-R along with his new team mate Leon Haslam.

Alvaro Bautista will return to defend the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Team colours aboard the Ducati Panigale V4 R in the 2022 WorldSBK season.

With the number 1 on his Ducati Panigale V4, Alvaro will try to defend his crown in the 2023 WorldSBK season.

Alvaro heads into the 2024 season with the knowledge that he is the rider with most wins for Ducati. Remaining with the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad for a third season in his second spell, Alvaro will be looking to add his name into Ducati history once again.