Esteban Ocon conceded “tricks” from Fernando Alonso were a big factor in Aston Martin finishing above Haas in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship in 2025.
The British squad secured seventh place in the table by just 10 points from the American outfit, despite a double-points finish in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last Sunday.
With Williams securing fifth place in the standings at the previous round in Qatar, the battle was still very much on for which team would take sixth place.
Racing Bulls, despite both its cars failing to finish in the points, took that honour by three points, with Aston in seventh, and Haas eighth.
Alonso produced another high-standard performance at the Yas Marina Circuit, finishing sixth, fending off the challenge of Ocon, his former Alpine stablemate.
After the race, Ocon told media including Motorsport Week that it “hurts” not to have finished seventh, after what was a “really strong race” to end the campaign.
“Effectively, Fernando was too strong,” he admitted. “He was managing extremely well in that tight part.
“We were all stuck behind him, and then he was pushing in the next four corners, and that was opening enough of a gap for us not to overtake. He still knows the tricks. He’s incredible.
“He’s a legend in wheel-to-wheel racing. Today, we were not quick enough to be able to try and go in front of him.
“Missing out by three points is, as I said, difficult to swallow, but it’s nice to end the championship on such a note, and it’s cool to build up the foundation for next year like that.”
Alonso rues ‘inconsistent’ Aston Martin in 2025
Alonso assessed that Aston Martin’s greatest limitation in 2025 has been its lack of consistency, alongside reliability problems when running in strong positions.
“Yeah, I mean I was aware of the situation and try to play our cards, try not to be too fast in some moments of the race, try to be fast in some others,” he said.
“I think this race was very strong as well, that was our only problem, you know any other weekend we could maybe have played a little bit more and overtake the Visa CashApp [Racing Bulls].
“I think it’s not only this race, the whole season, has been too inconsistent for us, too many up and downs. Budapest was great, two tenths from pole and we finished fifth.
“The last two races was good, but there were some others, too many unfortunately, that we put three sets in Q1 just to get out of Q1.
“These kind of things that were obviously a killer for our hopes and some reliability problems, you know, [a] stone in Monza [which broke his front suspension], engine in Monaco when I was sixth. If you take the points, it’s not only Abu Dhabi, it’s the whole season.”
Aston Martin will be hoping for a renaissance in 2026, in which the team will be led by Adrian Newey, who is also designing the car, powered by a new Honda engine.
READ MORE – Fernando Alonso reacts to Aston Martin appointing Adrian Newey as F1 team boss from 2026
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