Fernando Alonso’s ongoing mission to score points in 2025 was fruitless once again at the Monaco Grand Prix as he was forced to retire with a power unit issue, taking his tally of DNFs to three for the season.
For the first time since 2001, the former World Champion has failed to score in the first eight races – Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and the replaced Jack Doohan the only other drivers on zero points.
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A crash in the Australian season opener, a brake issue in China, and a car that has generally lacked performance have all contributed to Alonso’s frustrating start to the year, while his team mate Lance Stroll has accumulated 14 points.
It seemed as though there had been a positive change of fortune for the Spaniard in Monaco as he put together a lap good enough for P7 in Qualifying, which became P6 after Lewis Hamilton was handed a three-place grid penalty.
Aston Martin have struggled with pace and reliability this season
However, his hopes of holding onto the position vanished when his Aston Martin began to smoke and he parked up at Rascasse, which was the culmination of an earlier problem that initially appeared to be manageable.
“I think the race was difficult from our side,” Alonso concluded. “We had to manage many things – from Lap 15 we had a problem so we didn’t have the electrical part of the engine. It was 160hp [horsepower] less.
“Here in Monaco it’s not crucial, the power, so we kept sixth position alive for quite a long time, but in the end the engine stopped. It was not the end of the weekend that we wanted.
“It is not down to luck. It’s not that the wrong Safety Car or something came from the sky and hit our car – today [there] was something wrong on our engine that we need to investigate and try to improve for next time.
“I’m competitive – it’s not that I feel slow or I just have contact with the wall or with people on the first lap and because of my mistakes, I’m not scoring any points. I think I’m driving at a high level and I just need to wait and see what happens in the next races.”
2025 Monaco GP FP1: Leclerc runs into the back of Stroll’s Aston Martin in first practice
It was the second consecutive race in which the Silverstone-based team have left without points, as Stroll was unable to make any major improvements after a troubled start to the weekend.
He received a one-place grid penalty for a collision with Charles Leclerc in FP1, and was later hit with a further three-place drop for impeding Pierre Gasly during Qualifying. This left him in 19th place on the grid, which turned into 15th by the time the chequered flag fell.
Stroll – who at least managed a fine last-lap overtake on Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, which you can watch below – said: “It’s Monaco – when you have a tough Saturday, Sunday’s always a challenge. It was always going to be tricky from the back today.
“Red flags, traffic, all that stuff yesterday were just unfortunate circumstances that really made for the impossible today. Just turn the page and look forward to Barcelona.”
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