Aston Martin could be one of the big winners of the FIA regulation allowing more hours in the wind tunnel to develop its car. The poor start to the season leaves the British team with one of the worst cars in the constructors’ standings, and this could bring a number of benefits.
The FIA wind tunnel regulations
In F1, as in other sports, the worst teams usually have a number of advantages to develop their cars and thus close the gap with their rivals at the top. However, this advantage is not usually seen on the track, as budgets and economic power tend to prevail.
This is the case with the wind tunnel: the FIA allocates more hours to the lowest-ranked teams on the grid, while the teams at the top have fewer hours to develop their cars in one of the key elements of modern F1.
To apply the regulations, the FIA has a deadline for allocating these hours to the teams, i.e., it sets a date on the calendar and, when that day arrives, distributes the hours according to the classification on that day. For 2025, the deadline is June 30, i.e., one day after the eleventh race of the World Championship at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Aston Martin’s decision
Aston Martin now has to make a difficult decision for the present, but one that could be of great benefit for the future. At the moment, Aston Martin is second to last in the Constructors’ Championship with 16 points, and the bottom two teams will get more hours in the wind tunnel. They are currently tied on points with the eighth-placed team, Sauber, who overtook them after Hulkenberg scored 10 points in one go in Barcelona with an unexpected fifth place finish.
After such a difficult season, it seems that Aston Martin has managed to improve, and scoring points is more possible than ever, but of course, if in the next two races they score more points than Sauber, something that on paper seems relatively logical, they will lose those valuable hours in the wind tunnel.
For this reason, Aston Martin has to decide whether to sacrifice fighting for points in Canada and Austria, or to keep pushing the car in search of better performance. The decision does not seem easy, especially for Fernando Alonso, who is starting to smile as he sees the evolution of the AMR25.
Improvements at Aston Martin
Aston Martin continues to improve the car with an eye on 2026, but this also serves to make the car faster. However, it is surprising that there are new updates ready, but the team is dragging its feet on when they will be incorporated, and everything points to it being at the Silverstone Grand Prix, which takes place the weekend after the FIA deadline. In the paddock, there are rumors that this date is no coincidence, that Aston Martin already has more potential but is holding back because this season they are only aiming to improve the car for next season. If true, Aston Martin would prioritize, as it has been doing all year, more wind tunnel hours, which could be a big advantage for next year, when the team hopes to storm the F1 throne.
Aston Martin will have to decide what to do, whether to go all out in the next few races or be conservative with the results. It just needs to score fewer points than Sauber, because Haas, the next team in the standings, is 10 points ahead.