Going into the F1 Las Vegas GP weekend, Fernando Alonso is bracing for a close end to the 2025 Formula 1 season, acknowledging that Aston Martin’s battle for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship remains tight.
Speaking in Wednesday’s drivers’ press conference, Alonso highlighted that the team’s focus must remain on both the cars ahead and those behind in the standings.
The pushing Haas threat as the Constructors’ fight continues
Aston Martin sit in a three-way fight with Racing Bulls and Haas for sixth position. Asked whether they can catch the Racing Bulls over the final three rounds as the gap is 10 points, Alonso kept expectations balanced – cautious about making predictions. He is also wary of Haas coming quickly after Ollie Bearman’s brilliant drives in Mexico and São Paulo. 2 points separate those teams.
“I don’t know really,” he said. “It depends a little bit on the weekend. Lately, I think Haas is scoring a lot of points, and probably we need to focus on that as well – not only the guys that we have just in front of us. Also, the people behind are pushing. So yeah, it’s going to be tight until Abu Dhabi.”
Alonso made sure to add that the team will “do our best starting from this weekend.”
A trio of unpredictable circuits – and no clear favourite
Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi offer different technical challenges. Therefore, Alonso said it’s difficult to predict which one might favour Aston Martin.
When asked which of the remaining circuits suits the AMR25 best, Alonso admitted the team has struggled to accurately predict its peaks and troughs this year.
“Difficult to say,” Alonso explained. “A couple of circuits where we had high hopes, we underperformed a little bit. And some others, we were surprisingly fast. So difficult to say which one of the three will be better for us, but we will try in all three of them.”
The final stretch – Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi – offers a mix of track characteristics and this along with the unpredictability Alonso described makes it difficult for the team to draw conclusions.
Lessons from an ‘in-between’ year and reflecting on Aston Martin’s development path
Looking over 2025, Alonso spoke candidly about the team’s struggles this season and the difficulties in finding the balance between short-term results and the long-term shift towards the 2026 regulations. He described the campaign as a season caught between eras: built on a less than competitive 2024 car while development attention shifted towards the future.
“Obviously, it has been a very different season compared to the past, as the 2026 regulations are a big change for everybody,” he said. “2025 was a season in the middle of nowhere. We couldn’t probably put the job into the 2025 car we wanted. The base car of 2024 was not maybe the best… and that was unfortunately the base for 2025.”
He added that the second half of 2024 left Aston Martin without a clear development direction, making this year more difficult than anticipated.
Vegas hopes: memories serve as motivation
Aston Martin endured a tough outing in Las Vegas last season, with low temperatures making graining a prominent issue. Alonso hopes this year will be different – though he expects another tightly contested weekend from qualifying and onward.
“Let’s see,” he said. “In Vegas, definitely we were struggling last year. So maybe we fight for something! But yeah, I think it’s going to be tight always. Qualifying will be stressful — Q1, Q2, hopefully Q3. Last year, graining was an issue, so we have to try to mitigate that in the setup. Weather as well… we should be open for anything.”
Rain would make Las Vegas “not fun at all” to drive
Alonso warned that wet weather in Las Vegas could make the already low-grip street circuit even more treacherous.
“Not fun. Not fun at all,” he noted. “It’s fast. Visibility is going to be a challenge under the lights. The grip level is very low already on dry tyres. Temperature is low. It could be fun to watch, but not to drive.”
Still, Fernando Alonso enters the F1 Las Vegas GP weekend determined to maximise every session as the fight for sixth intensifies.
