Alonso points finger at Aston Martin as 2025 winless streak continues – Fernando Alonso may have joked about being the “unluckiest man in the world” after his latest Imola disappointment, but make no mistake – he won’t be looking for rabbit’s feet or four-leaf clovers in Monte Carlo this weekend. The two-time World Champion has no interest in lucky charms or divine intervention. Instead, he’s offering a brutally honest assessment of his and Aston Martin’s season so far: they simply haven’t been good enough.
Seven races into the 2025 season and Alonso still has zero points on the board. His best chance so far came in Italy, where he qualified an impressive fifth – his highest grid position of the year. But once again, a mixture of poor strategy, bad timing and a car that can’t go the distance condemned him to another wasted afternoon.
Imola disaster highlights strategic deficit
Alonso’s weekend in Emilia-Romagna promised to be a much-needed turnaround. Starting from fifth on the grid, hopes were high that the veteran Spaniard could finally break his points drought. But an early pit stop put at risk a strategy that quickly unravelled. When a virtual safety car was brought out, it gave Alonso’s rivals a golden opportunity to pit with minimal loss of time.
To make matters worse, a full safety car followed shortly afterwards, allowing the majority of the field to pit again in ideal conditions.
Alonso and his team-mate Lance Stroll were caught out. Their pit options were limited by Aston Martin’s lack of suitable tyres, a scenario that should never happen to a team with podium ambitions. Alonso’s frustration spilled over on the team radio: “I’m the unluckiest guy in the world,” he snapped, his outburst censored for broadcast.
But in the cool-down before Monaco, Alonso wasn’t interested in blaming the stars.
“I don’t believe in things like charms or prayers,” he said. “It’s probably just what we deserve.”
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The real problem: Lack of performance
For Alonso, the root cause is clear – Aston Martin hasn’t built a fast enough car.
“We’ve had a lot of unfortunate moments, but I think the most unfortunate thing is that we’re not competitive,” he said bluntly.
“When you’re fast, every strategy works somehow. Even an unfavourable safety car is just a bump in the road. But if you’re slow, one little thing goes against you and your race is over.”
Alonso can count the missed opportunities like tally marks on a prison wall. In Australia, he ran into the gravel all by himself. In China, a chance to score points evaporated when his brakes caught fire after just two laps. In other races, the AMR25 simply didn’t have the pace to threaten the top ten.
It is a painful contrast to 2023 and early 2024, when Alonso was a regular podium contender and even dared to talk of a late-career title challenge. That narrative has collapsed under the weight of a sluggish and inconsistent car.
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Radio frustration and misinterpretation
Alonso also took issue with the way his team’s radio commentary has been presented to the public.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “This is a very private conversation with my race engineer and the team. If you don’t know the context and you just hear the radio quote, none of it makes sense”.
He believes the comment has been blown out of proportion, stripped of the nuances discussed in debriefings and meetings. “We thought we were going to score points and go all in on the strategy. That was the plan.”
And while the world may label him “unlucky”, Alonso is having none of it.
“I don’t see myself that way. I’m a double world champion. I’ve won Le Mans twice, I’ve been WEC champion and I’ve won Daytona. If I’m unlucky, I don’t want to imagine what it’s like for the rest of the field.”
Aston Martin updates bring hope but no results
There were some signs of progress at Imola. Aston Martin introduced a number of upgrades that marginally improved the performance of the AMR25. Alonso was able to keep pace with McLaren and Mercedes in the early laps, something that had previously been unthinkable.
“In the past, we could keep up for six or seven corners,” noted Alonso. “At Imola it was ten laps. That’s progress. It was definitely a positive weekend, even if the result doesn’t show it.”
However, he tempered his optimism. “The car doesn’t feel dramatically different. It’s still inconsistent. It’s not easy to drive and that hasn’t changed.”
Nevertheless, the improvements offer a glimmer of hope that the team is finally turning the corner, even if it’s far too late for Alonso’s liking.
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Monaco: high hopes versus harsh reality
Next up is Monaco, a track Alonso knows as well as anyone on the grid. But even he admits that the circuit is likely to expose Aston Martin’s biggest weakness – slow cornering.
“Slow corners have been our Achilles heel at every track this year and Monaco is basically nothing but slow corners,” he said.
“That’s obviously a problem.”
Prior to Imola, Alonso was pessimistic about qualifying for Q3 in Monaco. But a slightly stronger performance in Italy has given him some cautious optimism.
“You need to have confidence in the car here. You need to get close to the walls and you build that in practice. If we have a good weekend and start with a solid base, anything is possible – even Q3,” he said. “But on paper it will be a very difficult weekend for us.”
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A battle between experience and decline
Alonso’s 2025 season is beginning to resemble a sad echo of his final years at McLaren – a driver of immense ability dragged down by a machine not worthy of his talent. At 43, Alonso remains one of the most fearsome drivers on the grid when the conditions are right. But the longer this points-less run continues, the more it will invite questions about Aston Martin’s direction – and Alonso’s own future.
He’s not talking about retirement, but the current results are hard to take. The Fernando Alonso of 2023 – climbing podiums with a grin on his face and talking about fighting Red Bull – feels like a distant memory.
Yet Alonso’s legacy remains intact. He’s achieved more than almost any other driver on the grid, and he’s come back from the wilderness before. Whether Aston Martin will give him the tools to do it again in 2025 remains a big question mark.
For now, though, he’s left to navigate a season defined by what-ifs and a scoreboard that refuses to change.
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MORE F1 NEWS – McLaren offer Red Herring explanation of their tyre management
Let not a bad plot spoil a good story. McLaren have been riding high since the start of the 2025 Formula One season winning five of the fist seven Grand Prix on offer. Much has been made of the team’s alleged flexible bodywork design, which would be illegal, but the story goes that any increased downforce from the wings ‘standing up’ in the corner would help with the tyre management which is crucial this year.
This tale will reach its conclusion next week in Barcelona, when the FIA will introduce new stringent tests for flexible body which the likes of Red Bull hope will bring McLaren back towards the chasing pack.
Meanwhile in Milton Keynes the narrative has changed since last time out in Imola. The story this season had been one of Max Verstappen hanging on in for the driver’s champion whilst driving a very tricky RB21 which was refusing to be tamed. Yet as if by magic in Italy, despite just missing out on his fourth pole position of the year, come race day Max made a daring move into turn one – which his team boss described as…READ MORE ON THIS STORY
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Alonso has a history of making bad decisions, allowing his emotions to override practicalities. He won’t change but his car will get better.