Fernando Alonso has spent a lot of the second act of his Components 1 profession pondering his luck and, amid the swings between the higher years and extra widespread leaner spells, he has concluded that over a decade with out an F1 win “does not sound correct”.
The 2-time champion’s final F1 victory stays his 2013 Spanish Grand Prix triumph, his thirty second within the championship, as alternatives to win a thirty third have confirmed sparse at greatest.
The next years had been characterised by equipment incapable of mounting challenges for wins: 2014’s Ferrari was a step backwards after the introduction of the V6 turbo-hybrid engine components, and his swap to McLaren – lured by the prospect of becoming a member of a works Honda group – was disastrous. Even the group’s swap to Renault engines in 2018 did little to maneuver the group ahead, because the chassis division had taken its eye off the ball.
Alonso thus referred to as time on F1, a transfer that transitioned to a two-year sabbatical. He rejoined the championship in 2021 to interchange Daniel Ricciardo as Renault turned Alpine; though he himself was not in with an opportunity of victory, he at the very least pitched in to make sure Esteban Ocon broke his duck at that yr’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
However Alonso’s misgivings about Alpine started to develop. A collection of powertrain points all through the 2022 season led to the Spaniard switching to Aston Martin – Sebastian Vettel’s retirement left an open seat. Whereas 2023 began brightly, because the Dan Fallows-designed AMR23 was the one automobile capable of maintain a candle to Crimson Bull’s exalted RB19, frequent podiums didn’t fairly grease the wheels in direction of race victory.
Many contemplate that yr’s Monaco race to have been Aston’s greatest shot at a win, however an ill-fated tyre cease for slicks earlier than the heavens opened snuffed out any remaining victory embers. Alonso needed to console himself with second to Max Verstappen and, within the years since, has labelled himself as maybe F1’s unluckiest driver. Many with out championships, wins, and even factors, would possibly dispute that – nevertheless it’s equally true that Alonso’s expertise hasn’t essentially been capitalised on.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23
Photograph by: Erik Junius
Taking a much less hyperbolic view, nonetheless, he means that the run of his 418-start grand prix racing profession has largely equalised the nice and the unhealthy – but additionally stays pissed off by the delay in attaining his thirty third win.
“Good luck, unhealthy luck, I believe 50-50 to be sincere. The factor is that once you do 400-plus races, there are a variety of races with good luck and a variety of races with unhealthy luck, however I believe every little thing compensated,” Alonso mentioned.
“Even after I went to Le Mans, the second Le Mans [2019], we had been two minutes behind the chief [Toyota’s #7 car] one hour earlier than the top. Then that they had a puncture, after which that they had a wheel that was not correctly completed they usually had a double pitstop on the next lap after which I gained the second Le Mans. [For context, the #7 had a faulty tyre sensor that indicated the wrong wheel had a puncture; Toyota changed one, then realised the other was the culprit and had to stop again.]
“That was a variety of luck on our aspect. So every little thing compensated. However yeah, most likely over 20 years, I believe, or possibly greater than 10 years that I gained my final F1 grand prix. It does not sound correct to me.”
Over 2025, Alonso has generally felt slighted by technique; at Zandvoort, for instance, Alonso made his displeasure often known as he’d stopped moments earlier than the security automobile when Lewis Hamilton crashed. He urged his group “forgot about me within the first half of the race”, then later complained that the group “at all times put me in site visitors” when requested concerning the stability of his automobile.
Alonso estimates that he is misplaced “22 factors” this yr by way of ill-fortune. He feels that, when the automobile is aggressive, he loses factors in troublesome races – when it is uncompetitive, the weekends go easily. Maybe that outlook has been dictated by his Monaco race, the place he appeared set to interrupt his factors duck in 2025 earlier than encountering a powertrain situation.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photograph by: Clive Rose / Getty Photographs
“We’re already as much as 22, I believe. It is a disgrace that we can’t end the races on benefit once we are within the factors,” he mourned. “After which once we are gradual, as a result of we’re uncompetitive, usually issues are at all times clean and good till the checkered flag and we rating no factors.
“However that is the way in which it’s and that is the game, the character of the game. And so long as subsequent yr we have now an excellent automobile, we’re in regular luck. We do not ask for good luck, however regular luck is okay.
“Shedding 22 factors, it ought to sound prefer it’s not a lot. We aren’t preventing for the world championship, so why ought to Alonso care about 22 factors in a season like this?
“However it’s a variety of effort and dedication to attain each single level when the automobile is simply capable of rating one or two factors per weekend. To lose 22 is an enormous quantity.”
