Aston Martin seems to have finally turned its situation around, and at Silverstone they are continuing to work hard to make 2026 the year they can fight for the F1 World Championship. The new factory, the acquisition of the best technological equipment, including the new wind tunnel, and the arrival of renowned engineers, notably Adrian Newey, are more than enough reasons for optimism to take hold at the factory.
The evolution of Aston Martin
This change in trend is backed up by the asphalt. To reach the finish line in 2026, changes have to happen now, and that is what is happening with the AMR25. After a hasty start to the season, with the car half-finished, the results have been what they have been, the second worst team on the grid at the start of the season, according to the Constructors’ Championship. However, this trend has begun to change since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on May 18.
On that day, Aston Martin installed the first updates of the year on the AMR25, developed in the new wind tunnel and supervised by Adrian Newey, who is focused solely on 2026. But of course, the 2026 parts have to be tested somewhere, and what better place than on the track with the current car? Since that update, there have been three Grand Prix races where Alonso has put the AMR25 in Q3 and scored his first points of the season.
Setup since Silverstone
However, as Andy Cowell himself stated, these first updates, while improving the AMR25, were less effective than expected. There is a problem, a known problem, but a problem nonetheless. The correlation between wind tunnel and simulator data is still not accurate, which is logical with new technologies, but there is now new data to carry out a more accurate calibration.
In this regard, the next updates, which will arrive in a month’s time at the Silverstone Grand Prix, are expected to be even more effective than the previous ones. If, with the updates in Italy, despite not achieving the results they hoped for, they managed to get into the fight for points and to lead the midfield, how could Aston Martin fare with these new improvements?
Could Alonso fight for the World Championship?
Given how the season has started, it would be very daring to think that Fernando Alonso could fight for the World Championship. The truth is that he has time, although it would be a comeback never seen before in F1. But behind closed doors at Aston Martin—because outside, calm and caution reign—they are confident that they can take an important step forward.
Thinking about the World Championship is not on the team’s mind, but they are confident of establishing themselves in the points on a regular basis, fighting for the top five, and dreaming of a podium finish during the remainder of the championship.
The 2025 World Championship seems like mission impossible for Aston Martin, but they hope that the improvements will work and allow them to position themselves in the upper-middle part of the grid, which would mean that the data correlation is correct, and that would be a starting point to try to fight for other things from 2026 onwards. Aston Martin has reasons to be optimistic, and so does Fernando Alonso. The work since Silverstone, with the new wind tunnel and Adrian Newey at the helm, is beginning to bear fruit, and it looks like the harvest will be a good one.