Aston Martin are living up to their promise of progress, just in the opposite direction. Year-on-year, the Silverstone-based outfit’s performance has declined gradually, with the start of its 2025 season being the worst in the past three years. With only 10 points under their belt, Aston Martin are seventh in the Constructors’ standings—far off from where they want to be.
Surprisingly, Lance Stroll has scored all of these points in the two race weekends in Australia and China so far. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, has had a disastrous start to the 2025 campaign with two DNFs already. The Spaniard crashed out in the season opener in Australia and then had a brake failure in China that forced him to retire from the race.
Amid this abysmal start to the season, many believed that Adrian Newey would be the answer to Aston Martin’s problems. After all, the legendary aerodynamicist has the experience of designing cars that have won 12 Constructors’ Championships and 14 Drivers’ titles.
However, Alonso’s recent comments seem to suggest that Aston Martin will not improve much this year, even after Newey‘s arrival as their Managing Technical Partner.
“I think he’s focused on next year’s car. I’m sure he’s following the races and meetings from the factory,” the 43-year-old said. “I’m not aware of any big ideas coming from Adrian for this year’s car, because as I say, he’s focused on next year [2026]”.
“Creo que está centrado en el coche del año que viene. Estoy seguro que sigue las carreras y las reuniones desde la fábrica”.
“No me consta que haya ninguna gran idea que venga de Adrian para el coche de este año, porque como digo está centrado en el próximo”.
– Alonso en RdP pic.twitter.com/R21jJ6VjMR
— Adrián. (@AdrianMCF) April 3, 2025
However, even if Aston Martin underperforms this year, it is unlikely to bother Alonso much. The Spaniard has himself claimed that he is willing to sacrifice the 2025 campaign for the “bigger picture“.
With the regulations changing next season, Aston Martin are devoting most of their resources to the 2026 car, as they should if they want to have the best chance of fighting among the frontrunners. That said, both Alonso and Stroll will continue to strive for better results this season to help Aston Martin finish as high as possible in the Constructors’ standings.
After all, each place higher in the standings equates to higher prize money. Alonso and Stroll’s next challenge will come this weekend at Suzuka, which could prove to be another tricky affair with an 80% chance of rain predicted on race day.
Alonso has already been a victim during a wet race this season after he crashed out of the Australian GP. So, he will certainly want to avoid a repeat this weekend at Suzuka, which is believed to be one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar, with its elevation changes and mixture of low and high-speed corners.
