Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll were pleased to end F1 2025 season with double points in Abu Dhabi GP despite late dramas.
It was a surprise qualifying for Aston Martin’s Alonso in F1 Abu Dhabi GP when he finished sixth. The car didn’t look as good on Friday but overnight changes transformed the car to a competitive one against the likes of Haas and Sauber when it mattered, as they eased into Q3.
Alonso even got by Mercedes’ George Russell at the start and fought against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. But he was cleared back by Russell to drop back to sixth. He had the position covered despite resistance from multiple rivals. The strategy was to help teammate Stroll, who went long on his first stint.
He bunched up the field enough to allow Stroll back into the Top 10 in the dying moments. On his own end, Alonso had to fend off Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in the latter part, which he managed to do so, to finish a respectable sixth in the standings.
His late push in the last two rounds helped him secure 10th in the drivers’ standings. He felt he could have been higher up if not for some inconsistencies throughout the season. “Yeah, happy with the race, sometimes we are fast on Saturday and not so much on Sunday, so it was good to secure the position we qualified on and to finish sixth,” said Alonso to media.
“Seventh in Qatar, sixth in Abu Dhabi is obviously a lot of points and a strong finish for us. So yeah, happy for this, happy for the team and now, yeah, full focus on next year finally. In the race, yeah, I mean, I was aware of the [title] situation and tried to play our cards, tried not to be too fast in some moments of the race, tried to be fast in some others and yeah, we…I think this race, Haas was very strong as well.
“That was our only problem, any other weekend, we could maybe have played a little bit more and overtake the Visa Cash App, but yeah. I think it’s not only this race, the whole season has been too inconsistent for us, too many up and downs. Budapest was great, two tenths from pole and we finished fifth.
“These last two races was good, but there were some others, too many, unfortunately, that we put three sets in Q1 just to get out of Q1. These kind of things that were obviously a killer for our hopes and some reliability problems, stone in Monza, engine in Monaco when I was sixth. If you take the points, it’s not only Abu Dhabi, it’s the whole season,” summed up Alonso.
The finish against Ocon and even Haas’ Oliver Bearman was crucial to retain seventh in the constructors’ standings. The Brit was running eighth at one point and both were gunning to relegate Alonso by two places. Had they achieved that, Haas would have secured seventh irrespective of Stroll.
But Bearman lost his place to Hamilton initially. It put him in danger against a recovering Stroll and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. They both got him at the chequered flag, but the Canadian was penalised to drop outside the Top 10, allowing Bearman back in ninth.
There was a penalty against Bearman as well for the same incident of multiple movements in defence. This dropped him outside of the Top 10, as Stroll was back in 10th. In the end, Aston Martian retained seventh in the standings by 10 points after Ocon was unable to catch Alonso either.
“Yeah, fun and an exciting race, could overtake cars ahead, so all good,” said Stroll to media. “It was a good strategy by the team and nice to pick up a point at the final race. In hindsight, we could’ve maybe pitted a lap or two earlier and finished even further up in the points.
“This year has been a tough one for the team, we haven’t been as competitive as we wanted to be, so finishing this season with a positive result and P7 in the Constructors’ Championship is good,” summed up Stroll, as Aston Martin ended its association with Mercedes on a high note of double points.
Here’s how F1 Abu Dhabi GP panned out