Aston Martin’s nightmare start to 2025 F1 season: Fernando Alonso faces accidents, technical failures, and a stiff neck. Shock start for Fernando Alonso in 2025 F1 season.

Shock start for Fernando Alonso
The 2025 Formula 1 season couldn’t have started worse for Fernando Alonso. First, there was the nervousness during the Friday interviews in Melbourne, then the crash in the Australian GP – triggered partly by the gravel brought onto the track moments before by a car ahead of his – and finally the retirement in the early laps of the Shanghai round due to a brake issue. This disaster left Fernando Alonso as the only driver out of the 20 on the grid who is still formally not included in the standings, due to the two retirements in two GPs. This misfortune also came alongside the disappointing performance of an Aston Martin team that, on track, was able to score points only with Lance Stroll, thanks to the Australian rain and the double disqualification of both Ferraris in China.

Neck issues in the F1 Chinese GP in Shanghai
But beyond the two retirements, there’s more. According to statements made after the GP to Dazn Spain, Fernando Alonso suffered from neck pain, which may be the result of the violent impact in Melbourne. It’s clear, however, that the two-time world champion appeared on the Shanghai grid with a noticeable bandage: “I tried to protect my neck because I had a sharp pain caused by a nerve or something like that, which hurt for a few days. In the end, it didn’t help much, since we didn’t do many laps.”

Fernando Alonso’s comment on the brake failure
“The brakes were very hot,” he added, “right from the start of the race, and then, on the third or fourth lap, I braked at turn 1 and the pedal went down until it hit the floor, and it was terrifying. Fortunately, the first turn is a section where you can just downshift to enter the corner. If this had happened at turn 14, or somewhere else, I think it would have caused a chain reaction… I would have hit four or five cars in front of me. Losing the brakes in an F1 car is one of the worst things that can happen.” – the former Ferrari and McLaren driver pointed out.

A failure that, more than being caused by the brakes themselves, seems to be related to a wrong setting of the Aston Martin’s brake cooling system, which would have caused the onset of a fire in car number 14. “We’ll try to figure out what happened and see the first chequered flag in Japan,” Fernando Alonso concluded after the Chinese GP.