Fernando Alonso will contest his 22nd season in Formula 1 in 2025, by the end of which he will turn 44 years old.
Many will question whether he still has the drive to compete in F1, particularly as Aston Martin has endured a disappointing season in 2024. The team finished over 300 points behind Mercedes and just 29 points ahead of Alpine in the Constructors’ Championship in fifth, after effectively turning each race into a test session.
Billionaire team owner Lawrence Stroll got ‘pretty loud’ behind the scenes after an upgrade package early in the season did not deliver results, and things appeared to get worse as the season progressed.
Aston Martin engineers went in the wrong development direction with the AMR24, with bouncing becoming one of the main factors that affected the team towards the end of last year.
Alonso gritted his teeth through their problems and got on with the job at hand, having agreed to a contract extension with them earlier in the year that takes him through the 2026 season.
Discussing the team on the Cameron CC podcast, Peter Windsor has explained why he thinks fans would be wise not to write them off next year.
Peter Windsor explains why fans should not write off Aston Martin
Although Aston Martin failed to deliver on the promise of their 2023 season, in which they took eight podiums with Alonso, the team has reason to be excited about the future according to Windsor.
“Nobody seems to be talking about Aston Martin. The great Adrian Newey is now at Aston Martin and they should be right up there with McLaren and Ferrari,” Windsor.
“His influence is only going to be felt for 2026, but we’ve seen Adrian on the pit wall at Red Bull after Friday practice and Max has been complaining about something. Then magically, Saturday morning they’ve got a new setup on the car and he’s getting a pole.
“How many times have we seen that? Adrian is not just a boffin who will go away and create some amazing aerodynamic solutions for 2026, he’s also a great race engineer. So anybody who discounts Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso does so at their peril.
“He’d be able to do a few things to that car. He won’t be able to redesign it, but he could do a few tweaks. If it’s a question of having flexi wings? Well bring it on, let’s put the flexi wings on the Aston Martin controlled by Adrian Newey and see how quick that car is.”
Aston Martin can start work on their 2026 car
Now that 1st January has passed, teams are allowed to commence work on their chassis for F1’s incoming regulation changes in 2026.
It will be a radical switch from the current cars, with active aerodynamics set to play a role along with a new engine formula design to be more efficient.
Aston Martin has Adrian Newey on board, who will be joining them in March, and the team has access to a new wind tunnel which has been hailed as the ‘most modern’ on the grid.
Simulator driver Daniel Juncadella has revealed that Aston Martin’s new simulator is also a major upgrade, which should help them work out setup problems on race weekends.
Leave feedback about this