Fernando Alonso continues to endure his worst start to an F1 season since 2017, with the Aston Martin driver still yet to score any points after the first four rounds of 2025.
Not since the final year of McLaren’s reunion with Honda has Alonso stomached such a poor start to a term. It took the 43-year-old eight rounds to get his first points in 2017 and he also sat out two races. Alonso has never gone five races in a row without a point at Aston Martin.
The fast streets of Jeddah could see Alonso record his worst run to date with the Silverstone squad, though. F1 heads to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend straight after he took P15 in the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Alonso coming home 12.746 seconds outside the points.
Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll also came home in P17 after qualifying in only 19th for the Bahrain Grand Prix. It marked back-to-back races where the 26-year-old qualified on the last row of the grid, with Stroll also securing and finishing in P20 at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Aston Martin designing a gearbox for their 2026 Honda engine is harming developing their 2025 car
Martin Brundle feels Aston Martin are struggling ‘horribly’ having even fallen behind Haas in the F1 constructors’ championship after the Bahrain GP. While the Silverstone crew failed to take a point in Sakhir, the Haas duo did with Esteban Ocon in P8 plus Oliver Bearman in P10.
READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2
| TEAM | ENGINE |
| Red Bull | Red Bull Powertrains (in partnership with Ford) |
| Ferrari | Ferrari |
| McLaren | Mercedes |
| Mercedes | Mercedes |
| Aston Martin | Honda |
| Racing Bulls | Red Bull Powertrains (in partnership with Ford) |
| Haas | Ferrari |
| Williams | Mercedes |
| Alpine | Mercedes |
| Audi | Audi |
| Cadillac | Ferrari |
Updates are coming to the AMR25 to try to improve the team’s fortunes, but Aston Martin’s first significant upgrades are due at Imola. The 2025 F1 season strolls into Italy for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from May 16 to 18 following the Saudi Arabian plus Miami Grands Prix.
Chief trackside officer Mike Krack affirms that Aston Martin will upgrade Alonso’s car as they become available. But the squad have enforced a spending cap on developing their 2025 car as Aston Martin are also having to design their own gearbox to suit the 2026 Honda engine.
Krack has told AS: “When something’s ready, we’ll see on the corresponding Friday. There’s a spending ceiling in place. It’s a special case for us because we have a power unit change and we have to build our own gearbox – these things don’t help.”
Aston Martin currently buy their gearbox from Mercedes as they also use the Silver Arrows’ 1.6L V6 turbo-charged power unit. But they will have to design their own gearbox, and also rear suspension, from 2026 as Aston Martin are to replace Red Bull as Honda’s works team.
Aston Martin are pinning their hopes on the 2026 Formula 1 regulations after a dire 2025
Luca di Montezemolo is ‘very sad’ to see Alonso struggle with ‘such an uncompetitive’ car at Aston Martin. The long-time Ferrari chairman also believes the two-time F1 champion could retire next year if Aston Martin do not succeed with the introduction of the new regulations.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulations
Aston Martin are pinning their hopes on the 2026 Formula 1 regulations moving them back to the front of the field. Alonso started his tenure in Silverstone with six podiums across his first eight races for Aston Martin in 2023, but he has only taken two since – and none since 2023.
Becoming a works engine team with Honda is one step Canadian billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll has made to improve his crew’s future. Stroll also made F1 design icon Adrian Newey a 5% shareholder in Aston Martin to switch from Red Bull as their managing technical partner.
