Aston Martin are hopeful that the upgrade package they are bringing to Imola will help change their fortunes, after a tough start to the 2025 season.
The Silverstone squad has struggled to replicate its impressive start to the 2023 season in recent years, citing development issues and the correlation between what happens on track and the numbers in their wind tunnel.
Aston Martin have only just recently moved into a new wind tunnel facility at their headquarters, but the team has been using Mercedes’ wind tunnel before that.
Fernando Alonso will be hopeful that the new upgrades will bring more performance, considering he has yet to score a point in the opening six races of the season. Speaking at Imola, he also gave his response to Aston Martin’s planned updates at Imola when speaking to Soy Motor.
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Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin upgrade ‘has to work’
Alonso knew scoring points in the 2025 Aston Martin would be difficult, based on the team’s form at the end of last season.
Aston Martin were doing a lot of back-to-back tests with their car and effectively treating each race as a test session, knowing the impact it could have on their development pathway.
After trialling a lot of concepts, Alonso now thinks this upgrade must put them in the right direction to salvage anything out of the 2025 season.
“It has to work, no matter what,” said Alonso. “We have to integrate it into the car, no matter what.”
Aston Martin plan back-to-back tests with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso
Discussing the updates in Aston Martin’s official preview of Imola, team principal Andy Cowell detailed the main areas that have seen developments and what their plans are for the weekend.
“We’re bringing a new floor and top bodywork. With the current aerodynamic regulations, the floor is the biggest contributor to downforce and the top bodywork helps with the delivery of good quality airflow to the key areas of the floor, so the two work hand in hand,” said Cowell.
“What we’re expecting from the package is an improvement in aerodynamic load and an improvement in the consistency of that load on the car.
“We will run one car with the new spec and the other car with the existing spec at the start of the event and make a cross-car evaluation. It’s beneficial to run two cars with different specs so we get a direct comparison with identical track conditions.”
Adrian Newey recently admitted that he’s had “lunchtime discussions” over improving Aston Martin’s 2025 challenger, as he looks to add his influence to the project.
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