Aston Martin has reason to smile after Friday’s Chinese Grand Prix, where it was confirmed that the AMR25 is a competitive car capable of challenging for top midfield positions, points and, with improvements, podium finishes throughout the season.
Confirmation from Aston Martin
Aston Martin have made it clear on many occasions that sprint weekends are not their priority. It will be more of a spectacle for the spectators and fans, but they are concentrating on qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday. This has always been the case with the current format, and nothing seems to be changing this season.
We have seen this with the likes of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who limit their laps in sprint qualifying to save tyres for tomorrow. However, the qualifying results, although they could have been better, show that Aston Martin has made the step forward that is required of the team.
The British team managed to get Lance Stroll into Q3 and Fernando Alonso finished eleventh, just a few hundredths out of the top ten. In the case of the Asturian, he only set two times, one in Q1 and one in Q2: in the first session he set a stratospheric time that put him second. As the laps went on, the track improved, as did the times of his rivals, but it was enough for ninth place.
In the second session, the strategy was the opposite, a single attempt to get into Q3 at the end of the session. Fernando Alonso missed out, but Lance Stroll managed to get into the top ten, a great result that clearly shows the AMR25 is a better car than last year, and Stroll’s step forward will be key to the team’s points tally, something that was lacking in 2024.
Equality on the grid
The F1 grid is more even than ever. Tenths of a second can mean a lot of positions on the grid, and with that in mind, Aston Martin has everything it needs to keep moving up the order. In terms of the championship, they are hoping to have enough settings to gain the time to get both drivers into the top ten. This is Aston Martin’s goal and ambition, and a result that would serve as motivation for a team looking to make up lost ground in 2024 after an extraordinary 2023 in which Fernando Alonso finished on the podium eight times.
Hopes for Fernando Alonso
The step forward for Aston Martin lies in the hands of Fernando Alonso. After a dubious start to the season in Australia and finishing behind Stroll in qualifying, he is expected to make a step forward tomorrow and set the usual times. The Spaniard is still in top form and ready to continue demonstrating his ability behind the wheel, and his team needs him.
Aston Martin have confirmed that the AMR25 is working, it is now possibly the fifth best car on the grid and the adjustments and improvements that can be made over the next few races could be a significant step forward. For now, it’s on to China and the timesheets will show how Aston Martin have found the car for this season. We will see if Fernando Alonso can give us some joy this year.