Fernando Alonso says points in F1 Spanish GP frees pressure off the shoulders, but consistency will be key considering how many scored by Sauber and co.
For the last few rounds, Aston Martin’s Alonso did all he could to start inside the Top 10 and push for points. Things didn’t go well with him in Imola and Monaco, but the F1 Spanish GP provided the opportunity to score and he did. He was the sole runner after Lance Stroll withdrew due to injury.
It was a tough fight against the likes of Isack Hadjar, Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg at the start, where he even dropped outside the points places. But with strategy and decent pace, he kept himself in the hunt. The safety car eventually came to his rescue towards the end.
Having pitted for soft, Alonso cleared three cars including Liam Lawson to get into the Top 10 in 10th where he finished. A penalty to Max Verstappen helped him end up ninth, as luck finally favoured him. It was a relief in the end after having a difficult start to his F1 2025 campaign.
“Obviously happy for the points,” said Alonso to media. “P9 is the first two points in the championship. And finally, we avoid the question on next Thursday, if that will be the weekend. But I was expecting a little bit more, probably, from the race. I felt more competitive in qualifying than the race. We had a lot of front tyre degradation, so the front left was done by seven laps into the stint.
“And then we lack top speed. So on the straights, we were losing a lot. I didn’t 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. Also in Imola, I was out of Turn 7, where I made like, three overtakes in the last few laps.
“So we need to solve this situation and start overtaking on the straight with the DRS, like everyone does,” summed up Alonso, who reckons this frees him from pressure for the races ahead. But the job is half done. He feels they have to get some bits to work to help the car work better on Sundays, since they are already doing decent on Saturdays.
With Sauber scoring and jumping Aston Martin in the standings, Alonso sees it as a threat and wants to score at consistent level. “It is only for us [straighline deficit] because everyone is overtaking,” he said. “We need to improve little bit our straightline speed and also the degradation. Saturdays are quite competitive, and on Sundays, we seem to take a step back.
“So, happy for today, for sure. First points, good Safety Car at the end, good timing of things. But 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. It’s nice to free a little bit of pressure on everyone’s shoulders in the team and try to get some consistency into Q3.
“This 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. We need to score points. Also, with Sauber scoring a lot of points, it’s mandatory for us that we score points every weekend, or every two weekends. We need to raise the level,” summed up Alonso.
Here’s Nico Hulkenberg and fight with Fernando Alonso
Here’s how F1 Spanish GP panned out
