The F1 race at Imola F1 left a bittersweet taste for Aston Martin. The good news was that the car took a significant step forward, but luck was not on their side in a GP where everything went wrong for the team, which perhaps should have opted for different strategies for its drivers. However, optimism finally reigns in the British team thanks to the improvements, which will continue and could further boost the AMR25. Andy Cowell confirmed this after the race.
Andy Cowell and Aston Martin’s step forward
The Aston Martin CEO was very pleased with the performance of the AMR25 at the end of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, although he regretted that the race did not go as planned.
“Everyone has done an excellent job all week to get to this point, where we are now fighting for points.” But in Italy, “the racing gods were against us when the virtual Safety Car came out. We had already stopped and that’s when our race fell apart a bit. Maybe we should have stopped one of the cars, maybe both, but in the heat of battle you also have to look at what other cars are doing.”
But Andy Cowell insists on the importance of the step forward Aston Martin has managed to take, perhaps at a time when the F1 world least believed in it. The AMR25 was battling Sauber to avoid being the worst car on the grid, and it ended up among the best, matching the pace of Mercedes and McLaren at times during the race and outperforming Ferrari. Races can throw up situations like the one Aston Martin experienced in Italy, but you have to look at the big change in the team.
“It may seem bad (because of the race result), but if we look back, we have brought an improvement that has made us faster in every corner of such a difficult circuit as this one. We are happy. What we have to do now is work harder, keep pushing and keep finding areas to improve. Make ourselves stronger for the next races.”
Cowell confirms improvements for the Barcelona GP
F1 never stops. This weekend, the Grand Circus moves to one of the most iconic circuits in the competition, Monaco, and a week later, Barcelona will host the next race. And Andy Cowell has announced that the team will have improvements. For this GP, the regulations for wings are changing, so all teams will have to debut a new one, but Aston Martin’s CEP announces that it will also add other parts to the AMR25.
“There will be new wing regulations in Barcelona and we will bring new parts. Barcelona is always a good test bench to see if the car is performing or not. We will keep pushing.”
The result of these new improvements, added to those already made in Italy, are of great importance for Aston Martin. It should be remembered that the aim of these improvements is not only to improve the performance of the AMR25, but also to test the AMR26, so a good result is key to knowing whether they are on the right track for next season.
“It’s the quality of the data we have on this package. It’s much better than before. It was developed in the previous wind tunnel, but it was measured and refined in the new one. What we learned this weekend will help us going forward, with the development of new parts for this year and also for 2026 and beyond.”
Aston Martin, after two years of updates that have not worked, seem to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The team’s performance at Silverstone is key to the team’s progress, and it seems that, little by little, the pieces are falling into place.