Fernando Alonso fears he could end the season with no points after failing to score again in the fifth round of the championship.
The Aston Martin driver finished 11th in Jeddah, which he said was the most the car was capable of.“I gave everything on track,” he said. “It was hard to keep up the pace with the cars in front. We were just not quick enough.
“P11 is the worst position probably you can finish and we need to get used to it. It’s going to be difficult to score points this year.”
Alonso finished fifth in Jeddah last year but Aston Martin looked uncompetitive throughout this weekend. They were the only team who failed to lap quicker than they managed last year.
He said they “need a lot of performance” to stand a chance of finishing inside the top 10. He said the team’s result was flattered by other drivers hitting trouble.
“Today we are P11 also because Yuki [Tsunoda] and Gasly had contact in lap one and Liam [Lawson] had a 10-second penalty,” he said. “If not, we were P14. But there’s still a long way to go.”
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The last season Alonso contested in which he failed to score a point over the opening five rounds was in 2017, when he drove for McLaren-Honda.
He had a near-miss when he almost collided with Gabriel Bortoleto when he caught the Sauber driver at turn one. “It was close,” said Alonso. “I chose to go on the outside, but there was some risk by doing that.
“He obviously didn’t see me and I had to take avoiding action in turn one and I quickly gave back the position, because I was not making the corner, to avoid any penalty.”
Bortoleto, who is managed by Alonso, admitted afterwards “I didn’t see him” as he was busy racing another driver for position.
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2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
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Jere (@jerejj)
20th April 2025, 21:55
Too early to judge, especially looking at Sauber last season.
J765
21st April 2025, 8:14
I’ve always loved how FA can take a team down and bring it to the ground, with zero self-criticism—almost as if the driver’s feedback weren’t crucial for a car’s development.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
21st April 2025, 10:26
Alonso is hands down the worst aerodynamicist in F1! Honestly, I can’t understand why teams keep hiring him.
Dave
21st April 2025, 15:06
Just curious. What flavor of Kool-Aid are you two drinking?
El Pollo Loco
22nd April 2025, 22:17
I’m assuming that was something known as sarcasm. He was mocking the idea Alonso’s responsible for the car’s lack of speed.
Patrick (@paeschli)
21st April 2025, 8:19
Maybe FA should take some lessons from Lance Stroll who already proved this car can score points?
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
21st April 2025, 10:48
@paeschli
Who has 5 times more points they the number two drivers have scored at Red Bull ;)
That first race and the points is probably going to be critical for Aston Martin. Alonso looked far quicker than Stroll there and he in reality should have got 10 points at least.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
21st April 2025, 12:15
A man out of time as soon as he knocked on Ron’s door with an ultimatum. A 42 year isnt going to get better as a driver but you’d think they might get wiser
El Pollo Loco
22nd April 2025, 22:23
He’s been better than Hamilton for the last four seasons. I don’t see you complaining about Lewis. However, I do see you judging a man for one incident that happened literally 18 years ago. No one ever mentions that Ron later rehired or that 20 mins after that heated exchange, he came back and retracted the ill advised threat. Hot headed Ron had already self-reported McLaren to his worst enemy in that 20 mins and Max made him pay for it.
Dave
21st April 2025, 15:32
I guess the Alonso naysayers forgot about his first year with Astin when he had 8 podiums with a new team.
The same can’t be said for Hamilton. He can’t seem to get the hang of his car.
Alonso never had ta problem and in fact if not for Ferraris bed strategy, he would have won a championship in his first year with Ferrari
Both Vettel and Hamilton won their championships with dominant cars..Vettel never got the hang of the Ferrari. It remains to be seen if Hamilton can. Then there’s the issue of whether he can outperform his teammate.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st April 2025, 16:03
How are Aston Martin that bad ? They should be in front of Williams. But they are behind VCARB, Williams, Alpine, … pretty much anyone not Kick Sauber.
p 9th. Woe is Aston.
Edvaldo
21st April 2025, 19:05
Maybe the car isn’t that bad, but their drivers are not that good.
Alonso is probably the only driver in there to never underperform; if he does, it’s because the car is bad, and not because he’s a soon-to-be 44-year-old obviously slowing down, shielded from this fact by racing a teammate that, based on his performances, should’ve been long gone, after all, he just broke the record of most eliminations on Q1 ever this weekend, a feat if you consider he never drove the worst car of the grid in his career.
If Alonso finishes the season without scoring a point, there would hardly be any better signs that it’s time to call it quits.
El Pollo Loco
22nd April 2025, 22:31
The guy who scored 10 podiums in 2023, was P4 in the WDC and went further into the season than any other driver, including Max, without failing to get to Q3? The guy who was the top scoring driver outside the top 4 teams in 2024 despite being in a car that was often 7th-9th best?
So, the car clearly sucks. AMR was the only team that was slower this year than they were last season.
Stroll is a bum, but he’s had a pole and multiple podiums. You can’t be dog slow and do that. He simply has zero consistency. Alonso is all consistency, which is why he’s out qualified him 20 times in a row. Sure, Max would have likely scored points in that car by now. But Max is by far the best driver in F1 right now and there’s no one even close to him.