Things did not go as planned for Aston Martin, especially for Fernando Alonso, who was highly motivated by the new updates to the car. However, Silverstone presented us with a rainy Sunday, which turned the race upside down. Nevertheless, the new updates were able to be tested in the final stage of the race, when it was finally dry, and Fernando Alonso flew with the AMR25.
Aston Martin updates
Aston Martin had the Silverstone GP marked in red on its calendar. The improvements looked promising, although it is true that it is not easy for such a significant change to have an effect in the first race. There are many parameters to measure, many configurations to try, and finding the best configuration is no easy task. Even less so when the rain makes an appearance.
The new updates completely transformed the car’s aerodynamics, especially on the flat bottom. Several elements were changed to optimize the car and optimize wind flow for performance, but the real impact could not be measured, although some important conclusions could be drawn in the final stages of the race.
Fernando Alonso flies in dry conditions
In the final stages of the race, the rain let up at Silverstone and it was possible to drive in dry conditions. Aston Martin took a risk with Fernando Alonso, who was the first to pit to switch to medium tires. It was a bit hasty; they should have waited a couple more laps, but once the track dried out, the Spaniard began to fly. He made up six places lap after lap, moving up from 14th to eighth.
During these laps, he was faster than Verstappen and Hamilton on the same compound and felt very confident driving in these conditions. The two laps he had to wait to put on these tires were the ones he didn’t have at the end of the race: he ran out of tires and lost a place on the last lap to Alexander Albon. The Asturian’s strategy failed, he could have achieved a better result, but the feeling was good when he was able to drive in dry conditions.
Hopes for Spa
Now Aston Martin has three weeks to carefully study the data obtained on the first weekend with the new updates. When the first package of improvements was installed at Imola, the real performance of the parts could not be seen until two races later, in Barcelona, so the team is hopeful that the step forward is real. The team is expected to consolidate its position as the best car in the midfield and to be able to challenge the teams at the top, which, with the exception of McLaren, have proven to be very inconsistent throughout the year. In addition, Andy Cowell confirmed after the race that for Belgium, the team will install some more parts, some parts that will improve the current package, so the team is expected to consolidate its position.
Fernando Alonso looked good when he was able to drive in dry conditions, he was one of the fastest on the track, hovering above Hamilton and Verstappen, who were very strong throughout the weekend. Now we just have to wait for Aston Martin to gather enough data to set up the car in Belgium, for the new update to work, and for Fernando Alonso to take care of the rest.