Fernando Alonso finished P11 at the Saudi Arabian GP last Sunday after struggling for pace and narrowly avoiding a collision with rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, whom the Spanish driver manages. The veteran had very few positives to take away from the weekend.
Alonso gave maximum effort during the Saudi Arabian GP
The Aston Martin F1 car has proven to be a struggle for Alonso to find pace in. The two-time world champion has yet to score any points at this point in the 2025 season.
In an interview with the media, Alonso outright said that the Aston Martin just does not have the pace to compete with their fellow midfielder cars.
“Yeah, absolutely. I think I gave everything on track, and it was hard to keep up with the pace of the cars in front. We were just not quick enough.”
The Spaniard has had two P11 finishes in Japan and now again in Saudi Arabia. Alonso is frustrated with being this agonizingly close to points and continuing to miss out. This, combined with his first two races ending in DNFs, have resulted in a tough start of the season for the driver.
“P11 is the worst position probably that you can finish. We need to get used to it, it’s going to be difficult to score points this year”
When asked if there is a specific aspect of the car that needs improvement in order to find pace, Alonso responded that the issue is quite vague. The driver stated that his P11 finish was aided by the misfortune of other drivers, as well.
“I think we need a lot of performance, you know.”
“I think today we were P11 mostly because Yuki and Gasly had the contact in lap one and Liam had the 10 second penalty, ultimately we are P14, so yeah. Still a long way to go.”
Alonso on his near-miss with protégé Gabriel Bortoleto
Liam Lawson passed Bortoleto into the turn one chicane on lap 25 of the Saudi Arabian GP. This move caused Bortoleto to go for a wide approach, almost causing a collision with his manager, Fernando Alonso. It was clear that this was not intentional on Bortoleto’s part.
Alonso cut the turn one chicane, and gave track position back to Bortoleto into turn two to avoid a penalty. The Spaniard talked about this incident in his interview with the media post-race on Sunday.
“Yeah, it was close. I think, yeah I chose to go to the outside, but it was some risk by doing that.”
“Obviously, he didn’t see me, and I had to take avoidant action in turn two, and I gave the position back quickly because I was not making the corner to avoid the penalty, but yeah, it was close.”
“Nothing changed in the race, we were both struggling.”
Alonso joked that the rookie would have to pay a penance for this incident, showing the camaraderie between the drivers.
“We are flying back together home, but maybe there will be no dinner for him.”
