Aston Martin braces for the inaugural round of the 2025 season, set to be the F1 Australian GP. Fernando Alonso is beginning his third season with the Silverstone based F1 team, and thoroughly discussed where him and his team stand in a print media session held in Melbourne on Thursday.
Where do they stand following F1 Testing?
Alonso and his team will not be debuting new car components already, and will line up for the F1 Australian GP with the same challenger which they had showcased during the F1 testing session in Bahrain.
The AMR25 did not look particularly great at the Sakhir International Circuit, but could it go a bit better in Australia with a very different layout?
“I think it’s pretty much the same, we should not have any big changes. So yeah, let’s see where are we. In testing there is always different programmes for everybody, so we are all curious to see where are we.
“But taking into account also that it’s a completely different track than Bahrain, it’s a very smooth track, a lot of high speed corners, long straights, so it could be better or worse for different cars and different packages.
“So, we are being very pragmatic and taking one race at a time and keep learning about the car. The pre-season has been very very short for everybody, so it’s kind of a continuation of pre-season testing for us, FP1, FP2, FP3, a lot of test time to keep on going, and I think it’ll be the same for everybody.”
The issues of 2024 still rearing their ugly head for Aston
Alonso adds that the Silverstone-based team has been hard at work on trying to solve the balance and stability issues they had with the AMR24, but he still isn’t satisfied with the overall driveability of his car in the corners.
“It is better, still not 100% on a happy place, but I think it could be, as I said, the same for everybody. It depends on the conditions. Especially in Bahrain, every day is a new adventure there, depending on the wind and the temperature, we found three different cars in the three different days testing, and it will be the fourth different car tomorrow when we hit the track because it’s a completely new nature of layout for the car.”
The stark disparities in track conditions have impacted the drivers’ adaptability to their new challengers, but in the upcoming weekend with three full hours of practice session they will get a better idea of where they are at.
“So keeping very calm, very pragmatic as I said, every session trying to learn about the car and in qualifying, same time and same conditions for everybody, let’s see where are we.
“The first part of the year is going to be interesting to really maximise the package and learn the strengths of the car and the weaknesses, especially on Sundays when we compare to other cars around.”
Practice (and time) makes perfect
Asked if Aston Martin is waiting on new components developed after testing, Alonso denied and explained that before innovating the car more time is needed in order to adapt to the changes compared to its 2024 predecessor.
“No, I think the package is completed now, so we will need time.
“This is not football, football is very easy, you take the best pitch, the best manager, the best players and eventually you win maybe the next match. In Formula 1 you can have the best facilities and the best people but you still need time to put all the ingredients together and win. We have so many examples in Formula 1 history.”
Can they put everything together for a future title challenge?
Throughout the past season Aston Martin has undergone a great number of personnel changes as well, with Mike Krack stepping down from his Team Principal role (now CTO) in favour of Andy Cowell as well as Adrian Newey’s signing.
The new brains, combined with the innovative structures in Silverstone, means Aston Martin will hope to challenge for titles once the new regulations come into play. Success is far from guaranteed, however.
“I think now the team is not lacking anything compared to the top teams in terms of facilities and people and talent and wind tunnel, all these kind of things but we still need the time to put everything together. I hope that 2025 will be enough to use that time in taking all the lessons and learning and preparing the 2026, it matches quite well with the change of regulation also for next year but there is no guarantee.”
“In Formula 1 we have many many examples of great team and great organisations that is still not able to win because everyone is so perfect here that you need to do something extra. We will try to do that as soon as possible and shortcut if we can,” he concluded, stressing his support to the cause of Aston Martin.
Aston Martin made a step forward in F1 2025?
The two-time World Champion also discussed Aston Martin’s up-and-down performances. Over the past three years it has been a rollercoaster. From the highs of early 2023 to the lows of 2022 and 2024, finding consistency with the car has been very difficult.
While Alonso is sure Aston Martin have improved their car for the 2025 F1 season, it seems they will be in a similar spot to last year.
“Yes we did a step forward. The thing was that 2024 we ended up very close together, all the midfield, it seems that even the midfield went quite close to the top teams so the whole grid now is very tight. It’s very difficult to put performance on the car without making the drivability nearly impossible because there is a very fine line of adding performance without disturbing the drivability of the car.”
The reduction in distance between the driver and the teams on the 2025 F1 grid has not fazed or demoralized Alonso, who believes him and his team could return to the top spots.
“So yeah, I think we did a step forward but everyone seems to do the same this last winter so it’s going to be very tight, but I’m not too worried. It’s time for us to deliver something extra on the weekends and we have the right people, we have the talent and we have the confidence so let’s see at the end of the year.”
Aston Martin have made a step for F1 2025 but not good enough, says Stroll
His teammate Lance Stroll is ready to embark on a new journey as well. However, he was less positive. While admitting they have made a step with the AMR25, Aston Martin won’t be challenging the front runners.
“We’re going to try our best, as we always do, and do what we can with what we have. Some tracks might be stronger than other tracks. We’ll try and make the most out of the season like we do every season.
“I think we know that we’ve made a step. We know that it’s not as big as we want it to be, to fight for the positions we want to fight for. Those are things we know. That’s it. There has been that step in terms of the car’s stability and the feel.”
Not enough for Stroll
The Canadian driver has quite mixed feelings on the AMR 25 after the Bahrain testing. While praising its speed and potential, he admits he is not quite as used to it, nor he has the best feeling in it, but he will definitely have more time to settle in:
“It’s a relative game. I think there are some corners stronger than other corners in Bahrain. The car can feel great and can still be slow. The car can feel terrible and be fast. I think we’ll just see how we look this weekend and the first few races and how competitive we are and go from there.”
Stroll stresses the importance of giving himself and the team time, following the many new technical additions, in order to be able to extract the maximum potential out of the team and create a much more competitive challenger in 2026.
“For sure. I think it’s a long game here. We have all the tools, pieces of the puzzle coming together to be a front-running team. Now we’ve just got to get it done. Start making it happen.”
“Everyone wants that to happen overnight. Does it happen overnight? No. How quickly does it happen? No one has an answer to that question. We’ve just got to push as hard as we can and keep grinding every day to try and get to where we want to get to.”
