Fernando Alonso said he will stonewall questions about Aston Martin’s performance on Fridays throughout the year after the first day of practice for the new season.
The two-times world champion has often been guarded in his comments after practice. Following today’s sessions he made clear his objection to being asked about his car, saying he learned “nothing, and if I learn something I will not tell you.”F1 drivers rarely have scheduled sessions with print media on Fridays during regular race weekends but are required to speak to Formula One Management’s coverage team after the day’s running ends.
“We come here because it’s mandatory,” Alonso told the official F1 channel. “But there is nothing really to talk [about].
“We just jumped out of the car as usual. It will be 24 Fridays like now that you can ask anything, I will not answer at all.”
Alonso was eighth-quickest in the first session and 13th in the second, covering a total of 50 laps.
“I need to review everything now with my team and privately discuss what we did today,” he added. “We did laps, the car goes, the engine is alive, the brakes are okay, the gearbox is changing gears up and down, so we’re good.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell gave more insight into the team’s operations at the track on Friday following their work in pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit two weeks ago.
“Bahrain provided a good backdrop for doing lots of experiments, although the weather got in the way a little bit,” he said. “We’ve crunched all the data, worked out the best set-up for this track.
“This morning, we were doing a few experiments across the cars. We managed to run both [race] tyre compounds. I guess everybody lost a little bit of track time because of the red flags.”
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2025 Australian Grand Prix
- Contact with team mate may have led to Bortoleto’s Australian GP crash
- Hamilton dismisses ‘negativity’ over his radio calls. ‘Other drivers are almost abusive’
- Antonelli “got really scared” when he made “big save” on first lap of Australian GP
- Williams explain role played by car’s systems in Sainz’s race-ending crash
- Norris is only driver besides Verstappen to win back-to-back races since 2021
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th March 2025, 7:25
There always comes a time in everyone’s lives when you just don’t care anymore and you do whatever you feel like. You see your grandpa going to get the newspaper in their pajamas, what are you going to tell him? Put some clothes on? Nah, let him be…
Same with Fernando.
David BR (@david-br)
14th March 2025, 11:15
That conjures a picture of Alonso driving around in his pajamas and slippers by the end of the season.
ianhaycox (@ianhaycox)
14th March 2025, 11:32
Translation: Dear Journalists, stop being lazy and try to think of a question that is different and interesting.
I cringe every time I watch a news report and the journalist says to the contributor ‘…and how does that make you feel?’. It’s just so lazy and formulaic.
And, yes, I’ve also got to that point in my life where I just don’t care anymore and you do whatever I feel like, including going to the local shop in my slippers.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
14th March 2025, 12:53
100% agree. Between standard questions and always wanting to tell the same tired story about “momentum”, I can’t stand most sports Journo’s
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th March 2025, 16:50
YES! that too. Even worse when the interviewer goes: “Fernando, that was a fantastic race, very hard fought till the end, brilliant moves…” and then he hands the mic to the driver. No question at all.
grat
14th March 2025, 14:40
And yet, if Hamilton had given those sorts of answers, people would be all over him claiming he was unreasonable, past it, and a total waste of space at Ferrari.
anon
14th March 2025, 16:24
grat, to be honest, most of the drivers on the grid would probably have been criticised for being rude, arrogant or self-centred for making those sorts of remarks.
Whilst you note that Hamilton would probably be getting quite a bit of blowback if he’d said that, could you imagine the reaction that we’d get if Stroll had dared to say that? This site would implode under the weight of traffic from people wanting to comment about what an entitled and spoiled brat he was.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th March 2025, 16:48
True. Perception is tricky…
El Pollo Loco
14th March 2025, 21:10
You make everything about Hamilton. It’s tiresome. And to act like Alonso is treated more friendly by the press than Hamilton is the height of insanity. The absolute reverse is true.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th March 2025, 22:29
I don’t think he’s wrong tho. Alonso crossed that path, he was the evil one but he’s like Vettel in his later years. Lewis is still polarizing
Dex
14th March 2025, 16:49
What’s dementia got to do with making a conscious change in life? I can’t speak for Alonso, but I doubt that he’s gone senile or unable to form sentences. I guess he feels the same as every driver, feeling tired of these same old questions following the routine, where everyone knows that he can only give officially approved PR statements.
Those are boring questions to hear, extremely boring to give answers to, and no one cares to read about it. He’s done it for decades now, it’s got to feel like being brainwashed, this constant repeating.
I also guess that it’s easier to engage in such pointless conversations when things are going well. At least you can be honest when you say you’re happy about things. Repeating the same phrases about “we got to push”, “we win/lose as a team”, “it’s about next month/year/three years” can’t be that inspiring.
A demented old man would find this chore much easier to do.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th March 2025, 22:27
Who talked about dementia? I certainly didn’t.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
14th March 2025, 7:39
Good that we cleared up what sort of tyres Cowell was referring to here ;-)
BLS (@brightlampshade)
14th March 2025, 7:42
Feels a bit early in the season to be this short of patience. But after 20+ years you do you Fernando.
El Pollo Loco
14th March 2025, 8:26
True, but at the same time, even as a fan, I find the redundant questions intolerable. Unless there’s been a significant change in pace, the answers almost never really tell us anything new and they’re not even allowed to share important information about what’s going on. Also, it must be frustrating to answer questions about why your car is sh t for the 12th year in a row.
S
14th March 2025, 8:09
Yep. The only Fridays that actually mean anything are the ones on Sprint weekends.
baasbas
14th March 2025, 8:47
This will surely trigger all reporters to ask him about his Fridays, every Friday now..
Jere (@jerejj)
14th March 2025, 8:56
I wonder if he’d be okay to answer a general question about how a Friday has gone, which isn’t about the car per se.
Edvaldo
14th March 2025, 12:49
If i from home thought these sessions were meaningless, imagine the drivers.
Yeah, you can see some teams doing better than others, but in a competition some teams will always do better than others.
There’s no point in talking about these sessions, there’s nothing to talk about.
Darren Wilks
14th March 2025, 17:41
This speaks more regarding the level of saturation. It points to editors wanting click bait. Rather than a clear insightful question it’s all about something that will drive engagement. Can’t blame him to be honest