The AMR25 - an Aston Martin to forget

Unless Fernando Alonso pulls off a big haul of points in the final three races, 2025 will go down as his toughest season since returning to Formula 1.

Aston Martin sits seventh in the Constructors’ standings with 72 points, locked in a tight battle with Racing Bulls (6th, 82), Haas (8th, 70), and even Sauber (9th, 62). That’s a steep drop for a team that finished fifth in both 2023 and 2024 with Alonso and Lance Stroll at the wheel.

By comparison, Alonso’s Alpine cars in 2021 and 2022 were solid midfield contenders — finishing fifth and fourth respectively — though reliability was their Achilles’ heel. Aston Martin’s 2023 car was a revelation, powering Alonso to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and eight podiums.

The AMR24 started strong last year with impressive qualifying pace but faded in races. The 2025 AMR25, however, has lacked standout strengths, struggling badly on high-efficiency tracks and only holding its own on circuits with heavy downforce and slower corners.

A season of missed opportunities

Alonso’s best finish this year was fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He’s started inside the top 10 in nine of 21 races and scored points in nine, though mechanical failures — like his engine issue in Monaco while fighting for sixth — cost him more. At present, he’s 12th in the Drivers’ standings, his lowest position since 2017 with McLaren-Honda.

“I won’t miss this generation of cars”

Alonso admits Aston Martin shifted its focus to the massive 2026 regulation overhaul, leaving the AMR25 underdeveloped: “This season has been very different because the 2026 rule change is so important for everyone. 2025 ended up in no man’s land,” he said.

“We didn’t do the work we wanted with this car, and the 2024 base wasn’t strong. We weren’t competitive in the second half of last year, and unfortunately that carried into 2025. With 2026 the priority, it’s been hard to find the right path this season.”

Key engineers Dan Fallows and Eric Blandin, who led Aston’s recent designs, have already departed. The responsibility for the 2026 project now rests with Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile.

End of an era

This season also closes a four-year regulatory cycle that promised closer racing but instead produced one of the most dominant cars in history. Max Verstappen won 19 races in 2023, while Red Bull took 21 overall. Alonso isn’t sad to see this chapter end:

“I won’t miss this generation of cars. They’re too heavy, and the ground-effect rules make racing less fun. The expectation was that we’d be able to follow closely and see more action, but beyond the first year, that never happened.”

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