Fernando Alonso reveals fresh injury setback after Chinese GP DNF

Fernando Alonso has revealed he is again racing with an injury, this time a potential pinched nerve in his neck.

Alonso was the only retirement from Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix when he was forced to park his Aston Martin due to a brake fire.

Fernando Alonso was ‘lucky’ not to crash in China

Additional reporting by Pablo Hidalgo

The double World Champion lined up 13th on the grid ahead of his team-mate Lance Stroll, but while Stroll raced his way into the points in ninth place, Alonso was the first and only retirement.

His AMR25 suffered a brake fire early in the Grand Prix and, smoking his way back to pits, he had to retire the car. It marked his second DNF of the F1 2025 season with the double World Champion yet to make his mark in the Drivers’ standings.

I’m okay,” he said. “I was wearing some neck protection because I’ve had a pinched nerve or something these past few days. 

“But in the end, it didn’t help much because I didn’t do many laps.

We had a brake issue. The rear brakes were very hot from the first lap and on the last one before retiring, I hit the brakes into Turn 1 and the pedal went all the way down with no braking power. Luckily it’s a long corner and you slow down gradually with gears and engine braking. 

If it had happened in the Turn 14 braking zone, I would have taken out five or six cars. In a way, we were lucky not to have an accident. 

“Now we need to understand what happened and next is a triple-header. Hopefully, I can see the chequered flag for the first time this year and we can turn things around in Japan.”

It’s not the first time Alonso has raced with an injury.

In 2016 he suffered broken ribs and a lung injury in a crash in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix but was back in the car less than a month later while in 2021 he underwent surgery for a fracture to his jaw, sustained in a cycling crash. He took part in pre-season testing a month after.

Last year he had an issue with his shoulder that was aggravated by the bumpy new surface recently in Brazil. Alonso said of that: “Well, you take a pill for the pain and go again.”