Fernando Alonso believes that the expectation of Adrian Newey taking charge at Aston Martin in 2026 should not distract from the need for improvements in 2025.
Alonso stated that the current performance of the AMR24 Formula 1 car is “not good enough” and that Aston Martin needs “a shake-up” for 2025. He noted that while the team expects Newey to arrive next March, it will be too late to have a real impact on the car’s design for the upcoming season, but they aim to enhance their chances for 2026.
He predicted that Aston Martin’s simulations indicated they would be “seventh or eighth fastest” in Singapore, and he managed to qualify seventh, while Lance Stroll could only manage 17th.
Speaking about the future, Alonso emphasized that the team cannot afford to sacrifice 2025 for a better 2026 and suggested that those responsible for the car’s design need to “change the pace” for next year to achieve more success.
“I think everyone at Aston has 2026 in mind, and with Adrian, Enrico Cardile, and some other names, that’s the biggest hope,” he said.
“It will be great, and the future looks bright, but for 2025… we need to shake some things up a bit. So, what we’re doing right now is not good enough, and we need to change the pace in 2025.”
Alonso explained that he and the track team are doing their best to make the most of the car, but the performance of the AMR24 has declined throughout the year, significantly increasing their workload.
He suggested that the people at the factory need to ramp up their development pace because the track team cannot perform “miracles” to extract more from the car.
The team started the year well, but the updates have made the car even more difficult to drive, decreasing the confidence of both Alonso and Stroll.
“Right now, I’m putting in all my effort to overcome the lack of speed, even just a little,” Alonso said. “There has been a lot of work done between Baku and here. We left the computer at 2 AM last night. We’re increasing our efforts to find answers more than ever.”
“We’re putting everything on the table, but we see that miracles cannot be created here on the track, and we need the factory’s help in terms of developing the car,” he added.
