Fernando Alonso is proving once again that age is no barrier for him and that he remains one of the best drivers on the F1 grid. His magic continues to shine through in every race, and he is capable of doing things on the track that no other driver can. He squeezes the performance out of the AMR25 to levels unthinkable even within the team itself, and you only have to look at the difference between him and his teammate, Lance Stroll, who is overwhelmed by the Asturian’s superiority.
An Aston Martin below expectations
Aston Martin had a bad start to the year, with the worst car on the grid alongside Sauber. Despite this, Fernando Alonso managed to get into Q2 in qualifying and fight for a place in the top 10. Then came the first improvements in Italy, and since that day the Spanish driver has finished in the top ten in the three Grand Prix races, while Stroll has only managed to do so in one of them.
However, when it comes to putting the car on the track on Sundays, something goes wrong and finishing in the points becomes a challenge. The Oviedo native has only managed to do so once so far this season.
Fernando Alonso shows his magic
The updates in Italy improved the AMR25, but now, based on its performance, the car is in a discreet midfield position on the grid. The improvements are noticeable over one lap, but in the race, as soon as the tires wear out a little, the top speed disappears, which is a weak point, and a very weak one at that, that needs to be improved.
This was evident in Barcelona, where the AMR25 lagged behind on the straights, even with the DRS open, and was unable to overtake. So Fernando Alonso had to look for solutions, and he surprised his rivals in the final stretch with impossible overtakes on corners, three in just six laps, where no one else had dared to do so, to finish in tenth position, which ended up being ninth due to Verstappen‘s ten-second penalty. But even that ninth place was well deserved, as, aware of the possible penalty for the Dutchman, he took a risk in the last two laps, setting his two best laps of the race to overtake him at the finish line.
Fernando Alonso calls for solutions
Although Fernando Alonso ended the weekend satisfied, especially because luck was on his side in the final stretch, he denounced the problems with the AMR25 and urged the team to make an effort to solve them in the next races.
“I didn’t make any overtakes with DRS. I did them all on the outside at turn 3, which is not a normal place to overtake, but we have to come up with these kinds of moves. Also at Imola, it was at turn 7 where I had to make three overtakes in the last few laps. We need to resolve this situation and start overtaking on the straights, with DRS, like everyone else does.
“We need to improve our straight-line speed a little bit more and also the degradation. Saturdays are quite competitive, and on Sundays we seem to take a step back. I’m happy with the first points, we had good timing with the final safety car, but if we go back to Thursday and do the weekend again, we need to change something to have something more on Sunday.”
New upgrades at Aston Martin
The team is working on this speed deficit, and the next upgrades are expected to fix this major problem. Without official confirmation, they are expected for the Silverstone GP, the first weekend of July. These improvements could be a significant leap forward for the team if they manage to increase top speed, and could establish it as the best car in the midfield if they succeed. With Fernando Alonso at the wheel, the results could be optimized even further.
But until that race arrives, there are two Grand Prix races in between, Canada and Austria, where Fernando Alonso will once again try to get the most out of his car to cover up the weaknesses that the Aston Martin still has, which are many.