Fernando Alonso came seventh in the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix last Sunday to score points in back-to-back F1 rounds, but he has also now given Aston Martin a warning.
The 43-year-old finally ended his worst start to an F1 season since 2015 on home soil at the Spanish Grand Prix, as Alonso also gave Aston Martin their first points since round two with P9. Now, the Oviedo native even has his best result in 12 rounds with P7 in the Canadian GP.
Montreal was not an entirely happy hunting ground for the double F1 champion last Sunday, however. Alonso felt Aston Martin left him ‘completely blind’ in the Canadian GP after failing to give the 2005 and 2006 title-winner a lap time to target to fight for a better final position.
Alonso also thinks Aston Martin would still not be fighting for points on pure merit if it were not for improving their qualifying performances. He took P10 on the Spanish GP grid and P6 in qualifying for the Canadian GP, before falling behind Charles Leclerc and Nico Hulkenberg.
Fernando Alonso found Esteban Ocon’s P9 for Haas in the 2025 Canadian GP ‘surprising’
Hulkenberg took his best result for six years with Sauber’s upgrades in Spain, as the German sealed P5 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. But it was the performance of Hulkenberg’s old team Haas and their new driver Esteban Ocon at the Canadian GP that surprised Alonso.
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Ocon joined Oliver Bearman as Haas’ driver line-up for the 2025 F1 season, but the 28-year-old’s P9 in the Canadian GP was just his fourth point-scoring finish this year. The Frenchman was P16 in Spain, yet Ocon gained from P14 on the grid in Canada with a one-stop strategy.
“It seems like a habit to be in the points now, but it’s because of good qualifying,” Alonso told AS. “If we don’t start sixth on the grid in Canada, maybe we won’t finish in the points.
“There were really fast cars in the race; the Williams, the Haas, surprisingly Esteban was in the front positions, and also Hulkenberg, who suddenly appears fighting. If we start 12th or 13th, we won’t score any more.
“We’re on a fine line between scoring points or not. Lately, the time trials and races have gone well for us, but we can’t take anything for granted. We have to keep working.”
Alonso knows what Ocon is capable of, as they were teammates at Alpine over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. It was also amid the Spaniard’s spell in Enstone that Ocon won the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2021 for Alpine’s sole win since rebranding and one of his four career podiums.
Fernando Alonso fears Aston Martin ‘won’t’ score points if they qualify outside the top 10
Aston Martin started the 2025 F1 season with Lance Stroll scoring points with P6 in Australia and P9 in China during the first two Grands Prix. Yet Alonso would not add to his team’s tally until round nine in Spain and Aston Martin remained a one-car operation in Canada, as well.
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Stroll withdrew from the Spanish GP through injury and would only finish P17 in Montreal in the Canadian’s return to action on home soil last weekend. The 26-year-old has not finished a Grand Prix higher than P15 since Stroll scored his most recent points in Shanghai in March.
Despite his points, Alonso left Spain begging Aston Martin for upgrades as they struggled for straight-line speed in Barcelona, as well. But he earned P7 in the Canadian GP and was 4.991 seconds from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in P7 until the safety car after Lando Norris crashed.
Still, Alonso fears Aston Martin will struggle to climb through the order like Hulkenberg and Ocon were able to if the two-time F1 drivers’ championship winner also qualified outside of the top 10. The Sauber and Haas drivers respectively started Sunday’s race in P11 and P14.
