Fernando Alonso bemoans VSC timing as first points of F1 2025 slip away

Fernando Alonso was left to rue “extreme bad luck” after his chances of scoring his first points of the 2025 Formula 1 season were wrecked by an ill-timed virtual safety car at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Following a massive update to the Aston Martin AMR25 at Imola, Alonso qualified an impressive fifth on the grid, with teammate Lance Stroll backing up his performance in eighth place.

Alonso managed to hold his again against F1’s usual frontrunners in the early part of the race, providing proof that the new package was working.

The Spaniard ditched his medium tyres on lap 12 of 63, becoming one of the first drivers to do so, but that strategy backfired when the VSC was called in on lap 30 when Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopped on track.

The intervention allowed the majority of the runners to complete a ‘cheap pitstop’, with several drivers who had already pitted also coming in for fresh rubber.

Alonso and Stroll - who stopped on lap 14 - stayed out on track during the VSC, leaving them vulnerable to their rivals at the restart on new tyres.

A full-blown safety car on lap 46 - deployed due to a mechanical failure for Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes - allowed Alonso to pit again and regain some of the ground he had lost earlier in the race, but he missed out on the final points-paying position by less than a second.

“It was just unlucky,” he told F1’s official site after taking the chequered flag in 11th place.

“The car was super today. We followed the McLarens and [George] Russell at the beginning of the race, which was definitely a good surprise for us to be that competitive in the first part of the field.

“We were okay for P6 and P7 with both cars and then the virtual safety car gave the opportunity to everyone to stop and exit in front of us. Our race was over. Extremely unlucky.

“But the car was competitive, had a good fight. In the end, I overtook 3-4 cars of the midfield in nine laps. It’s something we are not used to this year, so definitely a step forward.”

Double disappointment for Aston

Stroll followed Alonso for much of the race and ultimately finished a disappointing 15th after also being caught out by the timing of the VSC.

The Canadian is convinced that he could have scored his first points result finish since the Chinese GP in May if luck was on his side.
"The start of the race felt okay: I managed to pull away from Gasly and hold onto Albon in front of me,” he said.

“Unfortunately, with the Virtual Safety Car phase and the way the race unfolded, it didn't play out well for us today. Without the Virtual Safety Car, we might have been able to finish in the points so bad luck and a disappointing result.

“We now need to look to Monaco next week and see if we can continue to show signs of positive improvements with the update as it's a very different track."

Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell was left to wonder if his squad should have also called in Alonso and Stroll under the VSC to stave off rivals, but was nevertheless encouraged by the improved speed of the car.

"We came within a whisker of scoring points, but the racing luck was not on our side today,” he explained. 

“A promising one-stop strategy was undone by the timing of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) which dropped both Fernando and Lance outside the points. With hindsight, we could have pitted again under the VSC, but we did not want to sacrifice track position. We then struggled to hold off those cars with a tyre advantage.

"Nonetheless, we take away the positives from a weekend where we have seen genuine progress. The updates have added some performance and given us direction for the upcoming events. 

“Credit to the drivers, too, who did not put a wheel out of place this weekend. It's onwards to Monaco now which is a very different challenge."

Aston Martin sits seventh in the constructors’ championship courtesy of the 14 points Stroll scored in the opening two races of the year in Australia and China.