Is Fernando Alonso the grid's unluckiest driver? He surely believes so

Only at circuits that aren't suitable for the AMR25 does everything go according to plan, the Aston Martin racer bemoaned his poor luck in Azerbaijan once more.

After qualifying 11th, Fernando Alonso finished 15th in Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, concluding the Aston Martin driver's poor 2025 Formula 1 season. He claimed that only when the squad is performing well do unforeseen events occur that rock the field.

The Spaniard finished just outside the top 10 in Baku, three spots ahead of teammate Lance Stroll and ahead of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari. But Alonso also jumped the gun after McLaren's Oscar Piastri made a false start in front of him, costing him spots off the line and a five-second time penalty.

"Obviously, sometimes you react to every movement that is happening in front of you in those moments," the 44-year-old said following the race. "Unfortunately, I reacted to Oscar." However, I don't believe it had any effect on my race. We moved quite slowly, and I believe the end location is the same.

The Baku circuit's configuration was blamed for the Aston Martin AMR25's poor pace in Azerbaijan; earlier in the weekend, Alonso said that the "good downforce and low drag" needed to complete a lap of the track were "not our strength."

The Spaniard had to hope for a wave of retirements, red lights, and safety cars to rival the Baku qualifying session on Saturday if he wanted to move through the pack and make up for his race start error. That didn't occur, and during the 2025 season, Alonso once more bemoaned his misfortune.

Yes, as usual, nothing happens even though we have the worst car. "No yellow flags, no safety car, no reliability issues," he declared. Only when we are at the front does it occur. However, we must accept the fact that this is the year's trend.

This was in line with the twice world champion's earlier-season grievances. Alonso said that the safety car's timing at Zandvoort was "unlucky" at a track where he believed the team had a "opportunity." He also attributed his lack of points at the races in Monaco and Imola to his bad luck.

In fact, Alonso declared on team radio that "we are so unlucky" after finishing in eleventh place in Imola. This year, everything is going wrong for us.

The Spaniard is currently in 14th place in the rankings with 32 championship points, two fewer than teammate Stroll, who is in 11th place, as a result of his apparent bad luck.

However, how unlucky has the Aston Martin racer actually been in 2025? He has already received four DNFs, three of which were due to technical difficulties: suspension damage in Italy, power unit problems in Monaco, and a braking failure in China. However, in Australia, the seasoned racer lost control in dry circumstances and at first blamed the collision on the track's gravel. Although he hasn't had any retirements, his teammate did miss the Spanish Grand Prix because of a wrist injury.

The timing of the safety car at Zandvoort, when he had already stopped for new tires, and the virtual safety car in Imola, which offered his competitors a cheap stop ahead and eliminated him from the points, both caught Alonso off guard. Stroll experienced similar problems, with the Canadian attributing a loss of points at Imola and Spa to race interruptions.

According to Alonso, these incidents have primarily led to tracks that are more appropriate for the AMR25, which he claims has hindered his performance during the 2025 season. Alonso isn't counting his team out at some of these places just yet, though, since Formula 1 still has seven races left before the year is up.

After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Alonso told ESPN, "We know we're going to be the last car here, the last car in Las Vegas, the last car in Mexico." We already know that we will finish last in three of the seven remaining races. We strive to finish those as soon as possible without causing any harm to the vehicle, causing any damage, or causing problems for the team.

The final races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi gave the green squad a strong finish to the 2024 season, and Singapore was mentioned as a track that would provide Alonso with happy hunting grounds. Perhaps Alonso's fortunes will change in the future.