Champion LEAPS up F1 standings despite still having 0 points in 2025

Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso waving to the crowd at the 2024 Japanese GP — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Champion LEAPS up F1 standings despite still having 0 points in 2025

Fernando Alonso has had a difficult start to the year

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 8 April 2025 17:00

Weird but true: this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix saw a star driver jump three places in the Formula 1 drivers' championship despite failing to score a single point.

Fernando Alonso had arguably his worst start to a season in Australia and China, failing to finish either race after crashing in the rain in Melbourne and suffering a brake issue early on in Shanghai.

It meant that he was not classified in either event, with drivers having to complete 90 per cent of the race winner's distance in order to be classified as a finisher, regardless of whether they make it to the end or not.

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Alonso's nightmare start to the season continued in Japan, crashing out in FP1 before failing to make it out of Q2 in qualifying, although he did manage to outqualify Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll.

However, Alonso came within less than three seconds of securing his first world championship point of the season during Sunday's race, finally finishing a full-length race for the first time since the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP.

Alonso receives standings promotion

Despite once again failing to pick up a point, Alonso climbed three places in the drivers' championship, and now sits in 17th, ahead of Liam Lawson, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto.

This is because 11th is the best that any of those drivers have achieved across the season so far, with 18th-placed Lawson's best result being 16th in China, as well as picking up a 14th-place finish in the sprint race in China.

Doohan, meanwhile, has managed to finish 15th twice, but finished last during the sprint race in China, and DNF'd at his home race in Australia.

Alonso will be hoping to climb the rankings over the coming weeks due to his points-scoring, however, rather than his ability to finish ahead of certain drivers towards the back of the grid.

Max Verstappen Mercedes Fernando Alonso Lance Stroll Japanese Grand Prix Abu Dhabi GP