Fernando Alonso retirement hint dropped as ex-Ferrari chief 'very sad'

Former chairman Luca di Montezemolo thinks may call time on his career when his contract with expires at the end of next year. Alonso has endured a difficult start to the 2025 F1 campaign and is one of four drivers yet to score a point.

Alonso, who penned a new deal last year, began the season with . He finished 11th at the Japanese Grand Prix at the start of April but could only muster a 15th-place finish in Bahrain last weekend. He currently finds himself 17th in the Drivers' Championship standings, with Liam Lawson, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto also yet to register a single point.

Alonso has struggled with a host of car issues this year, which have hampered his efforts to keep pace with the drivers ahead of him in the pecking order. And Di Montezemolo told Marca: "I'm very sad for Alonso.

"A driver like him at the end of his career with such an uncompetitive car is truly sad.

"I hope that next year, which may be his last in F1, he will have a competitive car. He's a great friend, he's a great champion."

Alonso began his F1 career in 2001 with Minardi, before moving to Renault a year later. He won back-to-back world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 before moving to Ferrari in 2010.

He raced for McLaren and Alpine ahead of his move to Aston Martin in 2023 and has gone on to feature in 405 Grands Prix throughout his career.

He has won 32 races and has landed 106 podiums during his time in F1 but has been unable to compete at the front end of the field in recent years.

And discussing his struggles with his AMR25 after the Bahrain Grand Prix, the 43-year-old explained: "Tricky at the exit, but also mid-corner, it's like the car is dying in the low speed. A well-known problem that we had last year, and we still have this year.

"We need some improvement. It was a difficult weekend. We expected to be slow with all the low-speed content in Bahrain, but we need to improve the car. It's not only the low speed, I think it's a little bit everywhere.

"We need to get better. Hopefully, the next race will be a little bit more friendly to us, but scoring points seems difficult this year.

"Low speed was our weakest sector in Australia, Japan and China. Bahrain was all about low speed, and has been our least competitive weekend. So yeah, that's where the focus has to be."