F1 News: Fernando Alonso Warns of Turbulent 2025 As Aston Martin Still Struggles

Saajan Jogia | Dec 13, 2024

Oct 18, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team driver Fernando Alonso (14) of Team Spain walks through the track entrance before practice for the 2024 US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso has been inspired by McLaren's success this season when it won its first Constructors' Championship title in 26 years. He lauds that a single upgrade package catapulted the team to the top this season. On the other hand, his team hardly made improvements, and he expects the 2025 season to be similar, saying, "In Formula 1 there are not many miracles."

Aston Martin has faced an extremely challenging season as it remains a team that continues to grapple with problems thrown at it by the current ground effect era, which began in 2022. Red Bull initially mastered the new era of regulations, dominating until early this year. However, teams like McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari quickly closed the gap in the technical race. Among them, McLaren emerged as the most successful, excelling not only with a fast car but also by fielding a consistently strong and well-balanced driver lineup.

The Silverstone squad started the 2023 season on a strong note, achieving six podium finishes in the first eight Grands Prix, largely attributed to strategic senior staff hires from Red Bull. However, a misstep in the car's development trajectory led to significant setup challenges. These issues appear to have persisted with this year’s AMR24 car, as the team’s best result so far has been Alonso’s P5 finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard isn't too optimistic about the 2025 season either but rests his hopes on a potential game-changing upgrade package. Considering the team's internal transformation, the results of the changes would most likely materialize toward the 2026 season, when the grid will reset with the dawn of a new era of regulations, marking the beginning of a new technical race.

Aston Martin has been ahead in terms of long-term planning through its new state-of-the-art facility at Silverstone, which is expected to be operational soon, and the hiring of Red Bull's chief technical officer Adrian Newey, who was partly responsible for the team's success in the ground effect era through his car designs that dominated the F1 grid. He will take on the role of managing technical partner in March 2025, but it won't be until much later in the year when the results of his inputs can be witnessed. While Aston Martin can learn from its mistakes this season to improve the pace of its car for 2025, Alonso reckons that patience is key to unlocking the car's potential in this era. He said:

“Now I think we can reset, we can learn from all the difficulties and mistakes of this year and apply those learnings into next year's project.

“The new factory is now completed, also the new wind tunnel is going to be open soon. [New group CEO] Andy Cowell has already changed some of the weaknesses that he found in the team, so we have trust on the new management, and I think things are moving in the right direction, so I'm happy for that.

“But in Formula 1 there are not many miracles – you need to be patient, you need to find that sweet spot in the car, you need to find that upgrade that really awakens everything in these ground-effect cars.”

Citing McLaren's example, the 43-year-old driver pointed at the team's Austrian Grand Prix upgrades that unlocked the MCL38 F1 car's potential. He added:

“They started last and then won races in the mid-season and we need to learn from them.

“This is a good example of how things can be done.

“In Austria they introduced a package, they gained six, seven tenths or whatever – and that was the beginning of a series of packages that put their car as the fastest, eventually. So that Austria package, if we want to call it that, is something we need to work on.”