Aston Martin might have underperformed during F1 pre-season testing for ‘very strange’ Adrian Newey reason

Aston Martin enter the 2025 Formula 1 season in a precarious position with one eye on the future.

Despite finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship last season, Aston Martin were battling with the slowest teams on the grid by the end of 2024.

Fernando Alonso was exceeding expectations as he has done throughout his storied Formula 1 career during the second half of last season to finish as the best of the rest behind the drivers from the top four teams.

His achievements were underlined by the fact that Lance Stroll failed to score a point after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Alonso was left frustrated at various points during last season having joined the team from Alpine hoping to challenge for victories.

He scored eight podiums in 2023 but failed to come close to the top three at any point during last year

Aston Martin made changes behind the scenes heading into 2025 including appointing Andy Cowell as team principal and making the integral signing of Adrian Newey from Red Bull.

Newey’s primary task will be to work on next year’s car with new regulations being introduced to F1 in 2026 when the pecking order in the paddock could reset.

Journalist Michael Schmidt was speaking on Auto Motor und Sport’s YouTube channel about Aston Martin’s performances in pre-season testing this season and how it may relate to Newey’s arrival.

Aston Martin’s ‘very strange’ pre-season testing could be down to Adrian Newey

Ted Kravitz suggested Aston Martin might be F1’s ninth-fastest team this year and Schmidt was asked about the team’s difficult pre-season test and explained: “Yes, I mean they drove a very strange program that was probably the most opaque program, so they are not easy to assess.

“Are they fast, are they slow? It’s said that the cars have become much more predictable.

“But, of course, it’s also a solution that doesn’t help if when the drivers feel comfortable but the lap times do not improve.

“I had the feeling because they didn’t go for a fast lap nor do a long run simulation they just collected data.

READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

“They have admitted that they have done a lot of experimenting with the setup, with ground clearance and so on, so they were basically just collecting data for Adrian Newey, who then started looking at it on March 3 and perhaps using this data and the lap times achieved and the car that he then really saw in all its details and to maybe work out a few solutions.

“So, one thing is quite clear, if they were as weak as they looked in Bahrain if we only look at the lap times then Lawrence Stroll will tell him, ‘You have to take care of the car here’. He won’t want to be driving around in 8th place or whatever for a year.”

Adrian Newey provides his verdict on Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll

Newey has a state-of-the-art factory at Aston Martin to start putting his ideas and plans into place over the coming weeks and months.

If he sees any obvious wins when looking at the 2025 car’s data then it’s hard to imagine Newey won’t provide his input.

However, his focus is next year and Aston Martin have saved their wind tunnel for Newey to experiment with his ideas.

READ MORE: All to know about Aston Martin managing technical partner Adrian Newey

Ultimately, Newey could build the perfect car but then it comes down to the drivers tasked with winning races.

He has a huge amount of respect for Alonso from his nearly 25 years in the sport.

Newey has also been pleasantly surprised by Stroll since his arrival within the team and with both drivers already signed up for the 2026 season, he’ll be hoping they maximise the potential from the first Aston Martin he designs.