Fernando Alonso arrives at the Miami Grand Prix with minimal hope that the Aston Martin will improve ahead of this race, the first in which there will be improvements to the AMR25. These will be the first to arrive, minimal ones, as the big package is expected for the next race, the Italian Grand Prix, which takes place on May 18 at the Imola circuit.
Fernando Alonso and the options for Miami
Fernando Alonso is hopeful that the AMR25 will improve in Miami, but he is not getting his hopes up. The Asturian driver has already said that this year is going to be tough, that there is a lot of ground to make up, half a second, and that he does not expect the updates planned for the next two races to make up for lost time. But he does have some hope, based on other teams that have managed to take that important step forward in recent years.
The AMR25 is currently ninth on the grid, ahead of only Sauber, but Fernando Alonso has managed to finish two races in the points thanks to his great driving and the extreme risks he said he took to achieve that position, a stroke of genius that, however, was not enough to finish in the top 10.
New wind tunnel parts
One of the hopes of Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin lies in the new wind tunnel. It has only been in operation for two months, but this first package of improvements—divided between the next two races—has been developed under the new tunnel at the Silverstone factory.
This is therefore a decisive step for the team in terms of achieving good results, not for this season, but to confirm that things are going well and that the data can be relied upon for the design of the AMR26, next season’s car, with which it hopes to fight for championships under the new regulations.
Following last week’s meeting at the Silverstone factory, an emergency meeting organized by Lawrence Stroll, tired of the poor results at the start of the season, it was determined that the poor performance of the AMR25 was due to the fact that the wind tunnel data from Mercedes did not match the track data, nor did it match the data being produced by Aston Martin’s new wind tunnel. Therefore, if the current data is correct, some kind of improvement is to be expected.
Fernando Alonso’s options in Miami
Aston Martin does not have much confidence in this Miami Grand Prix. As it is a sprint weekend, there will be less time to test the updates, and as it is a small package, a slight improvement is expected, but nothing that could represent a significant step forward.
But looking ahead to the race, and given Fernando Alonso’s last two performances, finishing eleventh with the ninth car on the grid, Alonso may have a chance to score his first points of the season. To do so, he will have to deliver another of what he calls “small miracles,” but, as he said after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, “we will give 100%,” and that is what he will do again this weekend.
Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is still a dim light, but everything indicates that the AMR25 will take a step forward and cease to be the ninth car on the grid. Aston Martin needs to show that it can react and that it wants to become a championship-winning team, and this is a good time to measure its ability to react in the face of adversity.