New season, same old story for Aston Martin. Despite aiming to close the gap to the frontrunners in 2025, the team has once again taken a step back in terms of performance—mirroring their decline from last year after spending much of 2023 in podium contention. Fernando Alonso has felt the effects of this slump firsthand and is finally coming to terms with the abysmal reality of the team’s situation.
At the season opener in Australia, the Spaniard crashed out in rainy conditions, registering a DNF, and then left Round 2 in China with zero points after yet another DNF.
While a glance at the Japanese GP classification might suggest that the two-time world champion could have scored points in Suzuka—having finished 11th—he never looked sharp enough to break into the top 10, with the Aston Martin lacking the necessary pace.
Alonso has candidly admitted that unless they improve the AMR25’s performance this season, points will come at a premium for them. And he didn’t mean it as a jibe against the Silverstone-based squad, but rather spoke constructively in his recent conversation with Spanish website AS.
“Let’s see if we continue to improve, but as I always say, points are an impossible task with the performance we have, and we shouldn’t demand points because we have what we have,” the 43-year-old said.
Alonso even joked about the triple disqualification of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Pierre Gasly, which helped his compatriot Carlos Sainz score a point in that Grand Prix. He remarked that if something similar had happened in Japan, he might have opened his account for the 2025 campaign.
“The race has highlighted other areas we can improve; we’ll take these lessons forward as we head into Bahrain next weekend.”
Catch up on the #JapaneseGP and hear from Andy Cowell in The Debrief, presented by @aramco.
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) April 6, 2025
Having dreamt of winning races and clinching his elusive third world title with Aston Martin since 2023, the #14 driver hasn’t made headway toward these aspirations so far.
Will Alonso have to give up on his dream to win again?
During Alonso’s maiden year with Aston Martin, he enjoyed a purple patch of form, securing multiple podiums at the start of the season. At one point, many believed the two-time world champion could finally clinch his long-awaited 33rd Grand Prix victory—something he had been chasing for over a decade.
However, it never materialized as Aston’s performance fell off as the season progressed. And since then, Alonso hasn’t even been on the podium to taste the champagne, let alone stand on the top step of the podium.
Alonso is hoping this status quo changes in 2026 with Adrian Newey having joined the Silverstone outfit as their technical honcho. Banking on Newey’s championship-winning experience, the Asturian driver would fancy his chances of getting a race-winning car next season.
“It became a natural choice.”
Adrian Newey reveals why he chose the Aston Martin Aramco project for his next chapter. pic.twitter.com/x8IkOd04p7
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) September 10, 2024
And given his tendency to extract the most out of any car, Alonso knows he can get that elusive third title in one attempt if he gets a competitive enough car.
