Unhappy F1 driver just told his team he needs an ‘atomic bomb’ to go off to score points right now

F1’s scoreless quartet failed to end their drought at the Miami Grand Prix last weekend. Liam Lawson thought he was finally on the board, only to receive a penalty.

Lawson crossed the line eighth in a wet/dry Sprint race, but he received a five-second penalty for colliding with Fernando Alonso. Alonso too is yet to register a points finish in 2025.

The Spaniard broke into Q3 for the first time in Sprint qualifying, but the incident with Lawson ended his race.

Elsewhere, Jack Doohan is set to lose his Alpine seat to Franco Colapinto after sustaining race-ending damage in a turn-one incident with Lawson on Sunday. It spoiled his strong qualifying performance, with the Australian finally outpacing teammate Pierre Gasly.

Finally, Gabriel Bortoleto commendably reached Q2 in his Sauber, the slowest car on the grid. A power unit issue forced him to retire from the race, keeping him bottom of the standings.

Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin haven’t capitalised on ‘chaos’ in 2025

Alonso is without doubt the most surprising inclusion on the list. A two-time Formula 1 world champion, he was fourth in the standings as recently as 2023 and bagged 70 points last year en route to P9.

However, this year’s Aston Martin car is perhaps the second-slowest, only ahead of Sauber. Lance Stroll has scored all 14 points, but 12 of those have been in wet races.

Right now, Alonso says the Silverstone outfit need a metaphorical ‘atomic bomb’ to go off to create a top-10 opportunity. He knows he fluffed an opportunity in an incident-packed Australian GP by crashing out.

But he says Aston’s engineers only have themselves to blame for missing out in Saturday’s Sprint, when he wanted to take a gamble by switching to dry tyres. Those who went early were rewarded.

“That happens once every 10 or 12 races, there’s chaos or an atomic bomb and you can score points,” Alonso told DAZN.

“There have been three occasions this year. The first time I hit the gravel in Australia, the second time my brakes failed on the first lap, and yesterday we didn’t stop when the track was ready to stop.

“We’ve had four or five opportunities during this time, and we’ve already missed three, so let’s see if we don’t miss the next one.”

Liam Lawson’s surprising compliment to Fernando Alonso before Miami Grand Prix clash

During the winter, Alonso proclaimed Aston Martin’s 2025 car as a step forward. Instead, they’ve suffered the biggest drop-off of any team.

The focus for Lawrence Stroll is clearly 2026, when the regulation changes will give them the chance to make a leap. But he can’t divorce that entirely from what’s happening this year.

For example, Alonso has called out the team on operational mistakes, something that could continue to hurt them even if they build a contending car for the new ruleset. There don’t appear to be any internal doubts about the 43-year-old driver as yet, but his spin during Sunday’s race was highly uncharacteristic.

He remains one of the most respected drivers on the grid. Indeed, Lawson says Alonso is the best overtaker in F1, a surprising statement in light of their on-track clashes.