Yet to get off the mark this season, Luca di Montezemolo hopes Fernando Alonso has a competitive Aston Martin next season as the Spaniard bids farewell to Formula 1.

That’s the Italian’s assumption as Alonso has yet to confirm any retirement plans.

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Last year, Alonso signed an extension with Aston Martin for two seasons, F1 2025 and 2026, and admitted at the time that it was “probably my last contract, so I wanted to make sure that it was the right decision”.

However, four races into the F1 2025 championship, potentially his penultimate campaign, Alonso is one of four drivers still to get off the mark with his best result of the campaign a near-miss P11 at the Japanese Grand Prix.

His season began with back-to-back retirements, a crash in Australia and brake problems in China, that has extended to four pointless results.

It marks Alonso’s worst start to an F1 championship since 2017, when he didn’t score a single point in the first six races having opted to sit out the Monaco Grand Prix to contest the Indy 500.

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Although Alonso has yet to score a point this season, his team-mate Lance Stroll secured back-to-back top results in the two races in which Alonso didn’t score. But in the ensuing two, Japan and Bahrain, he’s been well off the points with a high of P17.

Alonso concedes Aston Martin need to improve the car, most notably in the low and medium speed corners.

Speaking about his AMR25 after the Bahrain Grand Prix, the double World Champion told the media, including PlanetF1.com: “Tricky at the exit, but also mid corner, it’s like the car is dying in the low speed. A well-known problem that we had last year, and we still have this year.

“We need some improvement. It was a difficult weekend. We expected to be slow with all the low-speed content in Bahrain, but we need to improve the car. It’s not only the low speed, I think it’s a little bit everywhere.

“We need to get better. Hopefully, the next race will be a little bit more friendly to us, but scoring points seems difficult this year.”

Quizzed on the one key area that needs improving, he replied: “I think low speed. Low speed was our weakest sector in Australia, Japan and China. Bahrain was all about low speed, and has been our least competitive weekend. So yeah, that’s where the focus has to be.

“I think we are trying everything we can. It’s not that we are just happy with the results, we just need to make it to the track as fast as possible.”

His plight has caught the attention of former Ferrari president di Montezemolo.

“I’m very sad for Alonso,” the Italian told Marca. “A driver like him at the end of his career with such an uncompetitive car is truly sad.

“I hope that next year, which may be his last in F1, he will have a competitive car. He’s a great friend, he’s a great champion.”

Alonso is hoping to break his duck this weekend in Saudi Arabia, but concedes that scoring points isn’t easy with four teams – McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari – leading the charge ahead of a closely-contested midfield.

“I hope so,” he said, “but I qualified sixth in Bahrain last year, and it was not the case this year.

“I really think Jeddah will be a little bit better for us, but I think to be in the points is a little bit difficult for us at the moment. Top four teams in another league. And then there is always Haas, Williams, AlphaTauri a little bit ahead of us as well. So you quickly are seventh or eighth team and in those positions, you cannot score points unless you are very, very lucky.

“So yeah, let’s see. We will try our best.”

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