With Formula One’s pre-season testing now over, and the Australian Grand Prix two weeks away, Aston Martin reflected on performance over the three days in Bahrain. While the team showed promise, their time around the Bahrain International Circuit also exposed some weaknesses which could affect their 2025 season.
A hopeful beginning
Though the day was extended by an hour after a 50-minute power outage at the circuit, the first day in Bahrain was not a long one for Aston Martin whose drivers recorded the lowest number of laps in their respective sessions.
Alonso was the faster of the Aston Martin drivers on the opening day of testing. He finished P13, with a time 1.5s off the fastest. Teammate Lance Stroll finished P15, around one-tenth slower than his teammate.
Limited progress on Day 2
The Silverstone-based team showed some improvements on the timesheets on day 2, with Stroll finishing P6 and Alonso P11. Stroll managed an impressive 87 laps, with a fastest lap time that put him just 0.881 off Williams’ Carlos Sainz’s benchmark. Alonso, on the other hand, completed only 45 laps—among the lowest of the day—and set a lap time 1.3 s off Sainz’s.
In terms of the timing sheets, day two was an improvement for Aston Martin – with both drivers being in P6 (Lance Stroll) and P11 (Fernando Alonso).
A lacklustre final day
The final day of testing was not the most productive for Aston Martin. An unwell Lance Stroll, in particular, completed only 34 laps before being swapped out for Alonso towards the end of the afternoon session.
Alonso, on the other hand, completed 82 laps on the final day of testing in Bahrain. However, he finished a measly P15, with his top time 2.5s off Mercedes’ George Russell’s 1:29.545.
Some positives but improvements needed—Alonso
While reflecting on his 2025 pre-season testing experience, Alonso acknowledged that they had encountered some small issues and struggled with difficult weather conditions at times.
“I’ve had a short pre-season testing as we encountered a few small issues and the weather impacted our running a little over the three days, but it was the same for everyone. I haven’t followed the results of testing because we have just been focussing on our programme during the test.”
While Alonso noted that the team had made some improvements to the AMR25, he highlighted the need for continued improvement ahead of the season opener in Melbourne.
“We do have some positives with the new car compared to 2024, but there are still some things that we need to work on and improve as we prepare for Australia. We experimented a little with some mechanical changes during the test but the track conditions were not at their best. It’s only testing and we won’t know how everyone looks until Qualifying in Melbourne.”
Stroll glad to get first feeling of AMR25
Lance Stroll agreed that while there had been some notable improvements, he would not know how Aston Martin compared to its rivals until the Australian Grand Prix.
“Getting back to work at testing and feeling the new car is always an exciting time of the year.”
“A lot of effort has gone into the AMR25 over the winter to try and improve various car characteristics, so it was nice to get my first feeling for those changes this week. You always learn so much from those first moments in the car and there are some things that feel better, but it is still very early days and difficult to say too much until we get to Melbourne.”
“The final day of running was a bit disrupted because I was feeling unwell. I managed to do 34 laps this afternoon but Fernando took over to finish the session.”
“Busy and productive” first days with AMR25
Despite the challenges, CEO and Team Principal of Aston Martin, Andy Cowell, described pre-season testing as “busy and productive” and praised the “massive effort” from the team as they prepared for the 2025 season.
“Our first few days working with the AMR25 have been busy and productive. The focus has been on learning about this car, the new aero package, checking all the systems, and gathering data from a huge number of experiments and test items.”
“There has been a massive effort from the team on the ground in Bahrain and back at base [in Silverstone] to run the car and crunch all the data which is already helping us paint a picture of where we are.”
Cowell agreed with Alonso’s impression that improvements were still needed ahead of the competitive season, but like both drivers, he warned that it was still too early to properly judge the team’s progress from 2024.
“Initial feedback from Lance and Fernando suggests we have made progress with the drivability of the car, but we have also discovered areas that could be better and need more focus.”
“It is very early days to be making any judgements on how much progress we have made during the winter and how we compare to our competition.”
“We have been focused on ourselves; we have just kept our heads down to get the data and information we need before the racing begins in a couple of weeks’ time.”
