Fernando Alonso said he was lucky the brake failure which put him out of the race happened at a quick corner and not a slow one.
The Aston Martin driver retired in the pits after the problem struck. He revealed he problem struck as he approached the first corner.
“The brakes apparently were very hot since the beginning of the race,” he told the official F1 channel. “Then by lap three or lap four I went on the brakes in turn one and the pedal went just to the bottom of the chassis. That was super-scary.”
Turn one is one of the quickest corners on the track. Drivers only have to decelerate a little, which meant Alonso was able to bring the car under control.
“Lucky turn one is just a corner that you just downshift and go into the corner,” he said. “If that happens in turn 14 or whatever I think it could be a massive crash because I will take four or five cars in front of me out of the race.
“So, an unlucky situation, I think we were lucky today to not hit any car in front of us or whatever and now let’s try to understand what happened and try to see the first chequered flag in Japan.”
Alonso remains yet to finish a grand prix this year after crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix a week ago. He said the car’s performance was “a little bit better than in Australia, I think, in race pace, yesterday in the sprint.”
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His team mate Lance Stroll finished 12th after running a long opening stint on the hard tyre compound. He said he thought a points finish might be possible before his final stint.
“I thought the race was coming to us after the first stint,” he said. “But just the other medium [tyre, there was] a lot of graining and then I think the whole race ended up just becoming a one-stop for everybody, so that was that.”
“I think we have a lot to work on, for sure, if we want to finish in the points comfortably going forward,” he added.
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Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Shanghai International Circuit.
Driver performance summary
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend?
No opinion (0%)
Gabriel Bortoleto (0%)
Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
Alexander Albon (1%)
Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
Isack Hadjar (2%)
Oliver Bearman (11%)
Esteban Ocon (8%)
Pierre Gasly (0%)
Jack Doohan (1%)
Fernando Alonso (0%)
Lance Stroll (0%)
George Russell (11%)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (1%)
Liam Lawson (0%)
Max Verstappen (12%)
Lewis Hamilton (4%)
Charles Leclerc (1%)
Oscar Piastri (47%)
Lando Norris (1%)
Total Voters: 85
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Fernando Alonso said he was “unlucky” to crash out of the Australian Grand Prix after hitting gravel which had been dragged onto the racing line.
The Aston Martin driver spun into a barrier at the exit of turn six on lap 33. The track was drying out at the time and most of his rivals pitted for slick tyres shortly afterwards.
“The incident came from nowhere, to be honest,” said Alonso after the race. “I was a little bit surprised about losing the car.”
“I was not wider than any other lap,” he told the official F1 channel. “I just found a lot of gravel stuck there in the middle of the circuit, and then I spun.
“So it was a very costly incident, but I don’t know really what to do differently. Let’s try to analyse it a little bit better. I think it’s a little bit of an unlucky incident.”
He was running in the points when he crashed. “I was 10th, Antonelli was 11th, I don’t know if I could keep the point in our pocket,” said Alonso. “But hopefully we’ll get better. We have another chance in five days, that’s the good thing.”
“I think the pace was similar to the midfield,” he added. “I was fighting with Gasly, Antonelli was clearly faster but [it was] not that easy to overtake us.
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“So all in all, I think we are in the mix. Some weekends will be better, some weekends will be a little bit more difficult, but we will try to improve.”
Alonso’s team mate Lance Stroll brought some cheer to Aston Martin by bringing his car home in sixth place. However he admitted he never felt comfortable in the challenging conditions.
“Confidence was a big word out there today,” said Stroll. “I never had a lot of confidence.
“The conditions were so tricky [on] the dry tyres, just one dry line, and then everything else was wet, and then vice-versa on the inters. It was super-tricky, so I think it was just about keeping it clean, and we did that.”
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Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Australian Grand Prix weekend?
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Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Albert Park.
Driver performance summary
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix weekend?
No opinion (0%)
Gabriel Bortoleto (1%)
Nico Hulkenberg (6%)
Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
Alexander Albon (10%)
Yuki Tsunoda (1%)
Isack Hadjar (4%)
Oliver Bearman (0%)
Esteban Ocon (0%)
Pierre Gasly (0%)
Jack Doohan (1%)
Fernando Alonso (0%)
Lance Stroll (1%)
George Russell (2%)
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (19%)
Liam Lawson (0%)
Max Verstappen (8%)
Lewis Hamilton (1%)
Charles Leclerc (0%)
Oscar Piastri (2%)
Lando Norris (42%)
Total Voters: 83
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Fernando Alonso said he will stonewall questions about Aston Martin’s performance on Fridays throughout the year after the first day of practice for the new season.
Most racing drivers dream of becoming the Formula 1 world champion with Ferrari one day. But very few manage to turn that dream into reality.
This year Lewis Hamilton aims to prove otherwise. His move from Mercedes to Ferrari ranks among the most significant transfers in F1 history because it connects the most successful driver (seven world titles) with the most successful team (15 drivers’ and 16 constructors’ championships).
But Hamilton is by no means the first world champion to make the switch to Maranello. Other title winners have also tried their luck in red – with varying degrees of success.
We take a look at the first grand prix weekend for each of those champions – and whether it foreshadowed a successful title campaign…
1956: Fangio takes a shared victory
Fangio and Ferrari wasn’t a perfect match, even if they did win 1956 title together
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Juan Manuel Fangio was already the most successful driver of Formula 1’s first decade when he moved to Ferrari for the 1956 season. He had already won titles in 1951 with Alfa Romeo, in 1954 with Maserati and Mercedes, and in 1955 with Mercedes.
It was a hallmark of Fangio’s career that he ruthlessly sought out the most competitive seats. But this marriage with Ferrari was born out of convenience rather than love, since Merc’s withdrawal from racing and Maserati’s shaky finances made Maranello his best option.
Fangio’s home race in Argentina was his first grand prix for Ferrari. But it didn’t go according to plan: a faulty fuel pump slowed him down, prompting him to take over team-mate Luigi Musso’s car on lap 30 of 98.
Musso had been running in fifth place before handing over. Fangio took off in pursuit of the leaders but overcooked it after passing Jean Behra’s Maserati, losing time to a spin.
Then, over the course of three laps as half-distance approached in the three-hour event, the frontrunners hit trouble. Fangio’s other team-mate Eugenio Castellotti suffered a gearbox failure, Carlos Menditeguy’s Maserati broke a driveshaft, and an ominous plume of smoke developed in the wake of Stirling Moss’s similar car.
Fangio overtook Behra again and made short work of Moss as his engine continued to tighten up. Since Fangio shared his car with Musso, they split the points for the victory. However, Fangio still left Argentina as the championship leader, thanks to an extra point for the fastest lap.
Mechanical trouble dogged Fangio throughout the season and neither did he get on with team manager Eraldo Sculati; he was only persuaded to remain at Ferrari when he was given a mechanic to tend his car exclusively. When a steering arm broke in the final round at Monza, and Musso refused to hand over his car, Fangio’s title hopes looked precarious until Peter Collins did the decent thing: three points for second place in the shared car was enough to stay ahead of Moss.
Fangio then moved to Maserati for 1957, where he secured his fifth and final title.
1990: Retirement sets the tone for Prost’s time at Ferrari
Prost’s Ferrari career didn’t get off to the best of starts in Phoenix
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
Alain Prost’s bitter rivalry with Ayrton Senna at McLaren meant something had to change. Even before Prost got the 1989 world championship over the line, he’d made arrangements to move to Ferrari – and infuriated McLaren boss Ron Dennis by dropping his trophy into the crowd after winning the Italian Grand Prix.
Prost therefore carried the number one on his Ferrari 641 for the 1990 season opener at the unloved Phoenix street circuit, where unexpected (and unusual for the Arizona desert) rain on Saturday meant the grid was set by times from Friday – this being an era before qualifying was consolidated into one TV-friendly session. That meant Prost started seventh with team-mate Nigel Mansell 17th.
Gearbox issues dropped Prost to ninth at the start. He fought back to fourth by lap 17 but just four laps later his gearbox gave up completely – a less spectacular retirement than Mansell, who spun out with his engine aflame.
Prost bounced back quickly, though, winning the next race in Brazil – Senna’s home ground – and four more victories kept him in contention against his nemesis. His title hopes, however, ended at the penultimate race in Japan, where Senna had his infamous ‘moment of madness’ at Turn 1 and took both cars out.
The 1991 Ferrari wasn’t competitive enough to string together a title challenge despite the arrival of a new car mid-season. Internal politics built to a point where Prost was fired after the penultimate round, having compared the handling of his car unfavourably with a truck.
1996: Schumacher loses to Irvine
Schumacher suffered a rare defeat to Irvine in qualifying for his first Ferrari race
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Twice a world champion with Benetton, Michael Schumacher felt compromised by allegations that the team had been cheating and exited his contract early to move to Ferrari. There he faced the challenge of the new V10-powered F310 and team-mate Eddie Irvine, a feisty individual known for not respecting reputations (a trait that had earned him a punch to the head from Senna).
In the season opener in Melbourne, Irvine unexpectedly outperformed Schumacher in qualifying, beating him by two and a half tenths to secure third place on the grid, one spot ahead of Michael. But the fact that they were half a second off the pace of the Williams cars on the front row amply illustrated the challenge facing Ferrari in 1996.
When the race was restarted after a first-lap shunt, Schumacher initially turned the tables on his team-mate and ran third. Brake problems then began to set in, ultimately forcing him to retire and elevating Irvine to third – but it would be Eddie’s only podium that year.
While Irvine only managed three more points finishes and ended the season 10th in the standings, Schumacher claimed three victories in the ungainly-looking F310 in Barcelona, Spa, and Monza. He finished third in the championship behind the dominant Williams drivers, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.
The following seasons took a relentless upward trajectory: from 2000 to 2004, Michael took five consecutive world championships in red.
2010: Vettel’s misfortune is Alonso’s gain
Alonso’s Ferrari career got off to a great start but never yielded the title
Photo by: Sutton Images
When the McLaren relationship turned sour and a return to Renault proved disappointing, Alonso turned to Ferrari in 2010 in the hope of winning a third world championship. But his opening weekend in Bahrain began with disappointment: he qualified 0.35s behind team-mate Felipe Massa.
In the race, Alonso got the upper hand over Massa and ran second until a spark plug failure slowed down leader Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull. Alonso took advantage, swiftly overtook the ailing RB6, and won by 16.1s.
After this early success, Alonso didn’t win another race until round 11, in Germany (controversially, when Ferrari imposed illegal team orders via coded message). A late-season flurry of three further wins meant he arrived at the finale in Abu Dhabi with a narrow points lead over Vettel’s team-mate, Mark Webber, and Vettel himself.
But, despite Vettel’s presence on pole position, the Ferrari pitwall had its eyes on the wrong Red Bull. Pitting early to cover Webber’s stop left Alonso stuck behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault and consigned him to seventh place at the flag, while Vettel won the race and the championship.
Alonso’s disappointed face after the chequered flag became a meme, symbolising his title-less years at Ferrari.
2015: A podium for Vettel
Vettel was another champion who failed to truly hit the heights while at Ferrari
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
After a winless and frustrating 2014 season, Vettel abandoned Red Bull and sought a fresh start at Ferrari. The Scuderia’s 2015 car was better than its disappointing predecessor and Vettel narrowly outperformed team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to secure fourth on the grid in Melbourne.
Vettel stood little chance against the dominant Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, but he did manage to pass Massa’s Williams in the pitstop phase, grabbing third place. He held that position until the chequered flag – a good start to his Ferrari career given Mercedes’ pace advantage.
Indeed, Vettel seemed to overturn the established competitive order in his very next race, qualifying second to Hamilton in Malaysia and then beating both Mercedes in the race. Two more victories in Hungary and Singapore cemented him as Ferrari’s lead driver, with Raikkonen cast as dutiful number two.
However, Vettel was fated never to achieve his ambition of winning a championship with Ferrari.
What about Hamilton?
A reflective Hamilton ponders his Ferrari debut
Photo by: Ferrari
Is there anything approaching a pattern in this history of previous champions gunning for further glory in red? Only that Ferrari debuts can vary dramatically, even for the best of the best.
Some, like Fangio and Alonso, hit the ground running with victories. Others, like Schumacher and Vettel, needed more time to find their rhythm. And some, like Prost, faced immediate setbacks that foreshadowed greater disappointments.
Now, as Hamilton embarks on his Ferrari journey in 2025, the big question remains: will his debut be a sign of things to come?
In this article
Stefan Ehlen
Formula 1
Michael Schumacher
Fernando Alonso
Lewis Hamilton
Alain Prost
Juan Manuel Fangio
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
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Every racing driver dreams of becoming the Formula 1 world champion with Ferrari one day. But very few manage to turn that dream into reality.
This year Lewis Hamilton aims to prove otherwise. His move from Mercedes to Ferrari ranks among the most significant transfers in F1 history because it connects the most successful driver (seven world titles) with the most successful team (15 drivers’ and 16 constructors’ championships).
But Hamilton is by no means the first world champion to make the switch to Maranello. Other title winners have also tried their luck in red – with varying degrees of success.
We take a look at the first grand prix weekend for each of those champions – and whether it foreshadowed a successful title campaign…
1956: Fangio takes a shared victory
Fangio and Ferrari wasn’t a perfect match, even if they did win 1956 title together
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Juan Manuel Fangio was already the most successful driver of Formula 1’s first decade when he moved to Ferrari for the 1956 season. He had already won titles in 1951 with Alfa Romeo, in 1954 with Maserati and Mercedes, and in 1955 with Mercedes.
It was a hallmark of Fangio’s career that he ruthlessly sought out the most competitive seats. But this marriage with Ferrari was born out of convenience rather than love, since Merc’s withdrawal from racing and Maserati’s shaky finances made Maranello his best option.
Fangio’s home race in Argentina was his first grand prix for Ferrari. But it didn’t go according to plan: a faulty fuel pump slowed him down, prompting him to take over team-mate Luigi Musso’s car on lap 30 of 98.
Musso had been running in fifth place before handing over. Fangio took off in pursuit of the leaders but overcooked it after passing Jean Behra’s Maserati, losing time to a spin.
Then, over the course of three laps as half-distance approached in the three-hour event, the frontrunners hit trouble. Fangio’s other team-mate Eugenio Castellotti suffered a gearbox failure, Carlos Menditeguy’s Maserati broke a driveshaft, and an ominous plume of smoke developed in the wake of Stirling Moss’s similar car.
Fangio overtook Behra again and made short work of Moss as his engine continued to tighten up. Since Fangio shared his car with Musso, they split the points for the victory. However, Fangio still left Argentina as the championship leader, thanks to an extra point for the fastest lap.
Mechanical trouble dogged Fangio throughout the season and neither did he get on with team manager Eraldo Sculati; he was only persuaded to remain at Ferrari when he was given a mechanic to tend his car exclusively. When a steering arm broke in the final round at Monza, and Musso refused to hand over his car, Fangio’s title hopes looked precarious until Peter Collins did the decent thing: three points for second place in the shared car was enough to stay ahead of Moss.
Fangio then moved to Maserati for 1957, where he secured his fifth and final title.
1990: Retirement sets the tone for Prost’s time at Ferrari
Prost’s Ferrari career didn’t get off to the best of starts in Phoenix
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
Alain Prost’s bitter rivalry with Ayrton Senna at McLaren meant something had to change. Even before Prost got the 1989 world championship over the line, he’d made arrangements to move to Ferrari – and infuriated McLaren boss Ron Dennis by dropping his trophy into the crowd after winning the Italian Grand Prix.
Prost therefore carried the number one on his Ferrari 641 for the 1990 season opener at the unloved Phoenix street circuit, where unexpected (and unusual for the Arizona desert) rain on Saturday meant the grid was set by times from Friday – this being an era before qualifying was consolidated into one TV-friendly session. That meant Prost started seventh with team-mate Nigel Mansell 17th.
Gearbox issues dropped Prost to ninth at the start. He fought back to fourth by lap 17 but just four laps later his gearbox gave up completely – a less spectacular retirement than Mansell, who spun out with his engine aflame.
Prost bounced back quickly, though, winning the next race in Brazil – Senna’s home ground – and four more victories kept him in contention against his nemesis. His title hopes, however, ended at the penultimate race in Japan, where Senna had his infamous ‘moment of madness’ at Turn 1 and took both cars out.
The 1991 Ferrari wasn’t competitive enough to string together a title challenge despite the arrival of a new car mid-season. Internal politics built to a point where Prost was fired after the penultimate round, having compared the handling of his car unfavourably with a truck.
1996: Schumacher loses to Irvine
Schumacher suffered a rare defeat to Irvine in qualifying for his first Ferrari race
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Twice a world champion with Benetton, Michael Schumacher felt compromised by allegations that the team had been cheating and exited his contract early to move to Ferrari. There he faced the challenge of the new V10-powered F310 and team-mate Eddie Irvine, a feisty individual known for not respecting reputations (a trait that had earned him a punch to the head from Senna).
In the season opener in Melbourne, Irvine unexpectedly outperformed Schumacher in qualifying, beating him by two and a half tenths to secure third place on the grid, one spot ahead of Michael. But the fact that they were half a second off the pace of the Williams cars on the front row amply illustrated the challenge facing Ferrari in 1996.
When the race was restarted after a first-lap shunt, Schumacher initially turned the tables on his team-mate and ran third. Brake problems then began to set in, ultimately forcing him to retire and elevating Irvine to third – but it would be Eddie’s only podium that year.
While Irvine only managed three more points finishes and ended the season 10th in the standings, Schumacher claimed three victories in the ungainly-looking F310 in Barcelona, Spa, and Monza. He finished third in the championship behind the dominant Williams drivers, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.
The following seasons took a relentless upward trajectory: from 2000 to 2004, Michael took five consecutive world championships in red.
2010: Vettel’s misfortune is Alonso’s gain
Alonso’s Ferrari career got off to a great start but never yielded the title
Photo by: Sutton Images
When the McLaren relationship turned sour and a return to Renault proved disappointing, Alonso turned to Ferrari in 2010 in the hope of winning a third world championship. But his opening weekend in Bahrain began with disappointment: he qualified 0.35s behind team-mate Felipe Massa.
In the race, Alonso got the upper hand over Massa and ran second until a spark plug failure slowed down leader Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull. Alonso took advantage, swiftly overtook the ailing RB6, and won by 16.1s.
After this early success, Alonso didn’t win another race until round 11, in Germany (controversially, when Ferrari imposed illegal team orders via coded message). A late-season flurry of three further wins meant he arrived at the finale in Abu Dhabi with a narrow points lead over Vettel’s team-mate, Mark Webber, and Vettel himself.
But, despite Vettel’s presence on pole position, the Ferrari pitwall had its eyes on the wrong Red Bull. Pitting early to cover Webber’s stop left Alonso stuck behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault and consigned him to seventh place at the flag, while Vettel won the race and the championship.
Alonso’s disappointed face after the chequered flag became a meme, symbolising his title-less years at Ferrari.
2015: A podium for Vettel
Vettel was another champion who failed to truly hit the heights while at Ferrari
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
After a winless and frustrating 2014 season, Vettel abandoned Red Bull and sought a fresh start at Ferrari. The Scuderia’s 2015 car was better than its disappointing predecessor and Vettel narrowly outperformed team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to secure fourth on the grid in Melbourne.
Vettel stood little chance against the dominant Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, but he did manage to pass Massa’s Williams in the pitstop phase, grabbing third place. He held that position until the chequered flag – a good start to his Ferrari career given Mercedes’ pace advantage.
Indeed, Vettel seemed to overturn the established competitive order in his very next race, qualifying second to Hamilton in Malaysia and then beating both Mercedes in the race. Two more victories in Hungary and Singapore cemented him as Ferrari’s lead driver, with Raikkonen cast as dutiful number two.
However, Vettel was fated never to achieve his ambition of winning a championship with Ferrari.
What about Hamilton?
A reflective Hamilton ponders his Ferrari debut
Photo by: Ferrari
Is there anything approaching a pattern in this history of previous champions gunning for further glory in red? Only that Ferrari debuts can vary dramatically, even for the best of the best.
Some, like Fangio and Alonso, hit the ground running with victories. Others, like Schumacher and Vettel, needed more time to find their rhythm. And some, like Prost, faced immediate setbacks that foreshadowed greater disappointments.
Now, as Hamilton embarks on his Ferrari journey in 2025, the big question remains: will his debut be a sign of things to come?
In this article
Stefan Ehlen
Formula 1
Fernando Alonso
Michael Schumacher
Lewis Hamilton
Sebastian Vettel
Alain Prost
Juan Manuel Fangio
Ferrari
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Formula 1, by its very nature, is all about considering the future. Faster cars, better drivers, making more money.
And in the year where the world championship is celebrating its 75th anniversary, Formula One Management bosses already have a shrewd eye on what will be its biggest commemoration yet: 100 years of F1 in 2050.
They’re not alone. Motorsport.com’s sister publication, Autosport magazine, already assessed a McLaren concept for 2050 F1 cars back in 2019 – when it was suggested these could perhaps reach 300mph, have ‘self-healing’ tyres and feature an AI co-driver.
But, while we can’t know if any of those Tomorrow’s World-style ideas will indeed come to pass, we do know about one tiny slice of how F1 100 is going to be celebrated.
The main source is Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso, who revealed he was the only contemporary F1 driver invited to a special ‘legends dinner’ soiree in London ahead of the F1 75 Live launch event at the O2 arena last month.
“I think Lewis and Max were busy last night,” Alonso quipped about his rivals Hamilton and Verstappen, of Ferrari and Red Bull.
“It was good,” Alonso added about the event. “I had the opportunity to see a lot of familiar faces.
“It was good to see Giancarlo Minardi – my first boss – there. Bernie [Ecclestone]. Luca di Montezemolo, with [whom] obviously I have a good friendship. Legend Mario Andretti was there, who I admired so much. It was good.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Getty Images
“And Formula 1, especially with the 75th anniversary, they tried to do some action and some cool stuff. Maybe some gossip, and one thing that we did there was that we wrote on a paper, all of us, a phrase or whatever you wanted to put.
“And they closed a box and it will be opened in 25 years and the 100th anniversary of Formula 1. It will be nice for the next generation.”
After Alonso, 43 and set to start his 22nd F1 racing season at next weekend’s Australian GP, joked “I may still be at the table!” as a contemporary member of the 2050 F1 driving pack, he mischievously declined to reveal what he had written.
“To open that box and see what is written there [will be good],” he said.
“I cannot say [what I wrote]. But let’s imagine 25 years ago, the generation of champions back then [in 2000], if they wrote something, it would be nice to read it now.
“I think it was a good idea.”
Motorsport.com understands that all attendees at the F1 legends dinner were asked to specifically write a note about what they think of the championship or their memories of competing in it or watching it.
Their papers were then collated and placed in individual tube capsules that will be sealed within a larger container to be opened at a special celebratory event in 2050 in true ‘Time Capsule’ style.
Sources suggest the office of F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is behind this particular commemoration of F1 history.
When the notes from F1 75 are revealed, it is expected that they will be shown publicly and any predictions or comments assessed against subsequent developments in F1.
Read Also:
In this article
Alex Kalinauckas
Formula 1
Fernando Alonso
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Fernando Alonso is unconvinced by Lando Norris’s suggestion that more than four teams can win races in 2025’s Formula 1 season, suggesting that the championship lacks the unpredictability to allow that.
Four teams – Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes – all won races in 2024 as the competitive shape of the grid swung throughout the year, a sea change from 2023 where just one race was not won by Red Bull.
After last year’s pre-season testing, the prelude to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso suggested that Red Bull’s advantage was such that “19 drivers in the paddock now will think that [they] will not win the championship”.
Red Bull did deliver on that advantage in the opening rounds, although McLaren’s progress throughout the year brought Norris into play to put pressure on Max Verstappen.
“I think it’s more open this year,” Alonso began. “Last year it felt like Max had a big advantage in winter testing, and this year it seems that maybe McLaren has an advantage.
“But I didn’t follow the test, I only read the news this morning. I think it’s going to be more open and hopefully close until the end.
Asked by Autosport about Norris’s assertion that more teams could win in F1 in 2025, Alonso witheringly suggested that the Briton was only willing to suggest this “now that he has the winning car”.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The two-time F1 champion explained his view that the reliability and the level of simulation in modern racing had removed some of the jeopardy and unpredictability from the races – and felt that only weather could help deliver Norris’s prediction.
“When [Norris] was in the fifth or sixth team, he was saying that only one team will win all the races. This is a normal, confident speech,” the veteran Spaniard dismissed. “It is good for him but I think it is going to be difficult. Reliability is so good these days; there are not many retirements, there are not many incidents. Strategies are quite defined.
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“Even on Thursday before coming to the grand prix, you know exactly it is going to be one stop, two stops, which tyre you will use. Everything is so perfect now that it is difficult to change or to make a race unpredictable. It has to be crazy weather or something.
“Hopefully there are multiple winners and it is going to be a tight championship. Last year it was already a very good one and hopefully this year it is even better.”
Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov
In this article
Jake Boxall-Legge
Formula 1
Fernando Alonso
Lando Norris
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Take a step back in time to January 2024 and tell yourself that in a year’s time you’ll know that Lewis Hamilton has moved from Mercedes to Ferrari, Carlos Sainz is at Williams, Liam Lawson has landed a Red Bull seat, and a fellow called Franco Colapinto (did you even hear of him back then?) is in line for one of the Alpine seats after having competed in nine grands prix at the end of last season.
What a difference a year makes.
Formula 1 sometimes produces snooze fests on race Sundays, but it’s always full of craziness, at least off the track – so you can almost never rule anything out. Here are some wild predictions from the fans that have a good chance of not looking so wild a year from now.
Verstappen won’t be a championship contender this year
Sorry, what? To imagine that the driver who dominated F1 in 2022 and 2023 will not even be in contention for the championship is difficult. But is it really so unlikely?
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
No question, even with arguably the third-fastest car last year, Verstappen was able to score consistently and didn’t even allow Lando Norris to close the championship gap in the second half of 2024. But the new Red Bull looks incredibly similar to last year’s – and visually, at least, some of the rival teams’ cars represent major developments.
There are a lot of ifs in this equation, but what if Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren make a bigger step forward than Red Bull? Verstappen is certainly a great driver, but will he be able to compensate if the gap gets too big?
The prospect of the Dutchman not being involved in a title fight still sounds too unrealistic, but 12 months ago it looked like 2024 would be as easy as the previous two seasons.
Alonso’s 33rd victory
Did you hear Lando Norris say that it won’t be just the top four teams that win races this year? As bold as it sounds, he has a valid point. The gaps tend to shrink when F1 keeps the same regulations for several years – and if nothing anomalous happens, we’ll definitely see some close racing at the front. And maybe it won’t just be McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes fighting it out. If so, who better to bet on for a surprise victory than Fernando Alonso?
Fernando Alonso on the podium in Sao Paulo in 2023
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Yes, Aston Martin clearly struggled last year – the string of podiums from early 2023 already feels like a long time ago. But back then, Alonso was just one strategic decision away from winning at Monaco: had the team put him on intermediates on lap 54, he could have already secured victory number 33.
Lawrence Stroll doesn’t back down – he just keeps upping the ante. Sooner or later, Aston Martin’s impressive team of engineers will have to get to the bottom of what has stalled the team’s progress over the past year and a half. Plus, Adrian Newey is due to join at the beginning of March, and maybe – just maybe – the genius will casually point them in the right direction for car development.
It will probably take more than just: “Oh, guys, this part should be 2mm higher and that’ll give you 20 extra points of downforce”. But Newey has long proven to the F1 world that he alone can make a difference.
Lawson and Tsunoda to swap places
Given Christian Horner and Helmut Marko’s reluctance to even consider putting Yuki Tsunoda behind the wheel of one of Red Bull’s cars, it’s almost unimaginable that the Japanese driver will end up as one of the team’s drivers. It was only last December that Tsunoda was offered a test with Red Bull – apparently after the team had already decided on its 2025 line-up – and now it’s almost unthinkable that he will ever be presented with such an opportunity again. Outperforming the likes of Nyck de Vries, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson clearly wasn’t enough for Tsunoda to convince his bosses that he was up to the task of being a top team driver.
Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda
Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images
However, crazy things have happened with Red Bull’s driver line-up in the past. Sacking, swapping and promoting drivers mid-season is Marko and Horner’s habit, so is it completely out of the question that Tsunoda will get his shot?
You don’t have to think too hard about the circumstances that might force Red Bull to at least consider swapping Lawson for Tsunoda. The New Zealander was moved to the main team after just 11 races in F1 – and there’s still a chance he could repeat the fate of Pierre Gasly, who was sent back to Faenza after just half a season with Red Bull Racing. If Lawson’s season turns out to be as bad as Sergio Perez’s last, the team chiefs may be left with no choice.
Antonelli to break Verstappen’s record as youngest winner
It’s a tall order – not just because of the lack of evidence that Mercedes will be able to win races this year and Antonelli’s inexperience, but also because Kimi only has three attempts to break Verstappen’s record as the youngest grand prix winner.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The Dutchman won the Spanish Grand Prix, his first race for Red Bull Racing, at the age of 18 years and 228 days. As a result, Antonelli’s chance of surpassing that achievement will expire after the Japanese Grand Prix at the beginning of April. Furthermore, no rookie has won a race in their debut season since Lewis Hamilton in 2007 (with the exception of Oscar Piastri’s sprint victory in Qatar in 2023). Even for the eventual world champion it took six races to reach this milestone.
A lot will have to go right for Antonelli to win one of the first three races of the season. But Toto Wolff wouldn’t be giving the young Italian a seat in the car if he didn’t believe in his potential. How quickly he can adapt to F1 remains one of the biggest questions ahead of 2025 – but what if he is indeed a once-in-a-generation talent, as the Mercedes boss clearly believes, and stuns the F1 world in his very first races?
Sainz to bring Williams back to the podium
James Vowles’ plan to take Williams back to the top is in full swing. Ditch the Excel spreadsheets – check. Hire a top driver – check. Secure a huge sponsorship deal – check.
He was clear last year: 2025 is not a priority for his team. In fact, he’d rather sacrifice the final season before F1 enters a new era in 2026 than jeopardise the future. However, Williams made real progress throughout last season and begins the new campaign with a car that was born in a much better environment than its predecessor and is at least not suffering from excess weight.
Carlos Sainz, Williams FW47
Photo by: Williams
Can Sainz make the difference? Alex Albon was showered with compliments during the time he shared a garage with Nicholas Latifi and Logan Sargeant, but who can rule out the idea that he didn’t always get the absolute maximum out of the car? Now Williams has a proven race winner. In a crazy race – and in a season of 24 rounds, some are sure to be chaotic – you can count on Sainz to keep his nose clean and come up with something special.
Drivers to strike against FIA
Back in 1982, Formula 1 drivers were so fed up with the organisation now known as the FIA that they went on strike and locked themselves in a hotel ballroom during the South African Grand Prix. They played games, told stories and Elio de Angelis entertained the group with some piano jams…
It’s hard to gauge whether Mohammed Ben Sulayem and the FIA are close to reaching the same level of discontent among grand prix drivers as Jean-Marie Balestre and FISA did some 40 years ago – but there is clearly some form of frustration in their ranks, especially in light of the recent news about swearing fines. Repeat offenders face not only financial penalties (which are quite hefty!) but also a one-month suspension and a deduction of championship points – and that’s pretty serious. The thought that a casual F-word dropped in an interview could affect the title fight is rather uncomfortable.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President, FIA, with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The grand prix drivers have already shown their unity by taking the decisive step of creating a joint Instagram account (an unprecedented move!). What comes next is hard to predict.
Just imagine: someone like Max Verstappen (name chosen randomly) finds himself on the verge of a third offence and punishment in the form of points deduction, say before the Austrian Grand Prix – but instead of heading to the stewards’ room, he rallies the other drivers to go on strike and they lock themselves up in, say, Helmut Marko’s Hotel Steirerschlössl? There’s no shortage of those who could play the piano on the current grid.
Bearman to beat Ocon comfortably
That doesn’t even sound so wild… All the F1 rookies of 2025 will have a difficult task going up against experienced teammates. But it’s probably Ollie Bearman who stands the best chance of actually beating his garage neighbour.
On paper, Ocon, a race winner with almost 10 years of F1 experience, would appear to be the clear number one driver at Haas – given Bearman’s lack of experience. But the young Briton has already demonstrated his speed and ability to learn quickly. Defeating Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying in Baku and then scoring a point in the race was excellent proof of his quality as a driver – and even more impressive than his infamous Jeddah performance.
Ayao Komatsu and Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Ayao Komatsu believes that Bearman is a future Ferrari driver. And while that’s a nice compliment from a boss, it’s also a statement of expectations: any driver who wants to drive a red Formula 1 car one day shouldn’t just aim to beat any of their team-mates – that has to be their only goal.
Perez to return before end of season
The four-year stint (or maybe just the last couple of seasons, to be fair) has really damaged the Mexican’s reputation. At times, he looked hopeless in the second Red Bull – and that impression was only exacerbated by Max Verstappen’s brilliance. But is this really the Sergio Perez we knew from his Force India days? Perhaps the toll of sharing a garage with a generational talent has simply been too great – and in different circumstances, he could rediscover some of his old speed and tenacity.
For now, as Perez enjoys time with his family and travels the world for pleasure rather than work, it’s hard to imagine him back on the grid. But F1 has seen its fair share of comebacks in the past – even from those who had been written off. After all, who would have thought that Daniel Ricciardo would swallow his pride and return to race for his former Toro Rosso team after a stint with McLaren?
Can Sergio Perez get back to F1?
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Would Christian Horner organise a tyre test for another of his former drivers in July? And if Isack Hadjar is as much slower than Yuki Tsunoda as Nyck de Vries was, could there be an opening? You could say there’s too much bad blood between Horner and Perez at the moment, but don’t forget Ricciardo left Red Bull to sign with Cyril Abiteboul, who seemed to annoy Horner almost as much as Toto Wolff! You never know…
Hulkenberg to qualify on front row with Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg has always been a strong qualifier, but it was during his two-year stint with Haas that he really showcased that skill. The German’s ability to put a lap together on demand is nothing short of extraordinary – and some of his Saturday performances deserve some serious praise. Remember him qualifying second in Canada in 2023?
He’s moving to a team that, on paper, looks like favourites to finish last in the constructors’ championship, but does that preclude some qualifying highlights?
Nico Hulkenberg, Stake F1 Team
Photo by: Sauber
Sauber also improved its car towards the end of last year, and in Abu Dhabi Valtteri Bottas made it to Q3, setting a time just 0.4s off the front row! Hulkenberg was fourth in the same session. If the field is indeed closer this year, the German could really raise some eyebrows.
Is it too hard to imagine him putting his Sauber on the front row in mixed conditions? Definitely not. It’s not like we’re talking about him getting a podium, right?
Doohan to complete full season with Alpine
Let’s just hope Jack Doohan hasn’t been reading the motorsport press over the winter – because if he has, he must be feeling immense pressure. Too many in the paddock are convinced that the Australian’s days at Alpine are numbered – and that translates into tons of articles suggesting that Doohan’s only job is to warm the seat for Franco Colapinto.
The reasons for such speculation are clear: the Argentinean wouldn’t have left Williams if he wasn’t hoping to get into one of the Alpine race cars in the near future. And the news of the team signing up sponsors from his homeland only adds fuel to the fire.
Doohan doesn’t need to read the press to be concerned. The facts are enough.
Jack Doohan, Alpine F1 Team, in cockpit
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
But guess what, he’s still starting the season alongside Pierre Gasly – and as long as he’s in that seat, his destiny (you’d like to believe it!) is in his hands. A strong performance in such circumstances could really boost the Australian’s image and secure not only a full season with Alpine, but a long career at the pinnacle of motorsport.
What a story that would be!
Read Also:
In this article
Oleg Karpov
Formula 1
Fernando Alonso
Carlos Sainz
Max Verstappen
Nico Hulkenberg
Sergio Perez
Yuki Tsunoda
Jack Doohan
Liam Lawson
Oliver Bearman
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
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