{"id":151355,"date":"2025-06-02T05:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T05:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/151355\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T05:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T05:57:10","slug":"fernando-alonso-forced-to-invent-passing-places-to-score-first-points-of-f1-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/151355\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Alonso forced to ‘invent’ passing places to score first points of F1 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the gravel to the points: Aston Martin\u2019s sole driver in the Spanish Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso, managed to transform an early misstep in his home race into his first points-paying finish of F1 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite that, Alonso walked away with mixed feelings, pointing out that the Aston has been struggling to overtake the competition, even with DRS active.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso \u2018invents\u2019 overtaking opportunities in Spain<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

The drought is over: Veteran racer Fernando Alonso<\/a> has finally ended his run of points-free races by taking home a ninth-place finish at his home Grand Prix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s strange to think that the former two-time champion should be celebrating only a ninth-place finish, Alonso certainly earned it.<\/p>\n

In the early stages of the race, the Spaniard lost control and slid into the gravel. He was able to save it and rejoin the track, battling his way into the points powered by the cheers of his hometown crowd.<\/p>\n

He crossed the line in 10th, then earned a promotion to ninth when Max Verstappen was handed a time penalty that dropped him down to 10th in the running order.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a solid result and a positive return, but according to Alonso, he was left with \u201cmixed feelings\u201d in an event that should have been much smoother.<\/p>\n

F1 2025: The season\u2019s winners and losers<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0The results of the F1 2025 championship<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0The updated Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously happy for the points,\u201d Alonso told media, including PlanetF1.com, after the Spanish Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\u201cP9 is the first two points in the championship. And finally, we avoid the question on next Thursday, if that will be the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was expecting a little bit more, probably, from the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Alonso could only set a lap fast enough for 10th on the grid in qualifying, he said that he \u201cfelt more competitive in qualifying than in the race,\u201d which came down to some unexpected tyre wear \u2014 and overall speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of front tyre degradation, so the front left was done by seven laps into the stint,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we lack top speed, you know. So on the straights, we were losing a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t make any single overtake on the DRS. They were all made in Turn 3 on the outside, which is not a normal place to overtake, but we have to invent this kind of moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso in Imola, I was out of Turn 7, where I made like, three overtakes in the last few laps.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we need to solve this situation and start overtaking on the straight with the DRS, like everyone does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being unable to pass without the help of the Drag Reduction System is damning; Alonso\u2019s experience almost certainly helped him \u201cinvent\u201d those overtake opportunities.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard noted that these are issues that seem to be specific to Aston Martin, which can make for a frustrating weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturdays are quite competitive, and on Sundays, we seem to take a step back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you know, happy for today, for sure. First points, good Safety Car at the end, good timing of things.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you know, if we go back on Thursday and we redo the weekend, we need to change something on the car to be a little bit more Sunday biased than Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to free a little bit of pressure on everyone\u2019s shoulders in the team and try to get some consistency into Q3.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the third consecutive race on Q3, this is the first point. So if we build, you know, something that you are constantly in the top 10 on Saturdays and Sundays, definitely it will help everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

But points are all-critical for Aston Martin in the race to avoid the bottom. After Spain, the team boasts 16 points \u2014 good enough for ninth in the standings and tied with Sauber as a result of Nico Hulkenberg\u2019s impressive fifth-place finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Sauber scoring a lot of points today, it\u2019s mandatory for us that we score points every weekend, or every two weekends,\u201d Alonso said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to raise the level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0Spanish GP: Oscar Piastri leads McLaren one-two amid late Verstappen meltdown<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the gravel to the points: Aston Martin\u2019s sole driver in the Spanish Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso, managed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[1837,4199,6319,707,4200,225,12,27196,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-151355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-aston-martin","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-fernando-alonso","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-home-page","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-spanish-grand-prix","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114612236684280583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}