Alonso laments ‘pure bad luck’ for Aston Martin in Imola despite upgrades being ‘a step forward’

Fernando Alonso lamented "pure bad luck" in Imola, finishing 11th after starting fifth, despite Aston Martin's upgrades showing promise.

The team secured their first Q3 appearances of the season thanks to the upgrades and strategic tyre saving. Alonso ran in fifth early on.

The race unravelled due to:

• A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) that allowed rivals to pit for a cheap stop and leapfrog Alonso.
• A late Safety Car gifting other teams the chance to change to fresh tyres, a luxury Aston Martin didn't have.

Alonso commented, "It was just unlucky. The car was super today, we followed the McLaren and [George] Russell at the beginning of the race... the Virtual Safety Car gave the opportunity to everyone to stop and exit in front of us and our race was over. So extremely unlucky, the car was competitive, I had a good fight."

Despite the P11 finish, Alonso's pace on old medium tyres in the closing laps, overtaking multiple cars, indicated a significant step forward for Aston Martin. "Even at the end I overtook three or four cars in nine laps. It’s something we are not used to this year, so definitely a step forward."

Alonso remains optimistic about the upgrades' potential, stating, "We’ll see next week at a different kind of track, so we’ll see if we can continue the form."

Aston Martin remains seventh in the Constructors' Championship.