2025 Aston Martin | Aramco F1 Team

[diffuser]

If the Imola or Barcelona upgrades are not a B spec from Newey's mind and with the new wind tunnel, its better forget this year quickly. Maybe AM is making the same thing as Mclaren did 2 years ago? Mclaren was last team in Bahrain and they ascend after new wind tunnel car rised up, they said at the time that the car was known to be bad. Im trying to find some explanation to this unbeliveable down fall.

It's the floor. You're not gonna see a traditional B-spec. We might get a completely new floor that we will likely not see.

[-wkst-]

I didn’t want to say that they are competitive, just that ALO had quite a bit fuel in the tank. Q3 seems impossible, unless they find something.

ALO boxed after his short run, outlap-hot-inlap, but just for adjustments, went out again 30 sec later.

[Nikosar]

What did Whitmarsh do?

Culture and strategy come from the top down. Strategic decisions come from above the technical director, especially when there's pressure from Lawrence to deliver results fast.

Whitmarsh comes from a different era, and while he has the credit from delivering the new factory on time and within budget his absence from F1 for seven years might mean his input is more business than on cutting-edge car philosophy. That could lead to mismatches with what a technical director like Fallows was trying to build. The floor upgrade strategy might even have been a Whitmarsh 's directive.

This is why Cowell was appointed, to rise the team to the standards to what he was used to at Mercedes.

So you don't know of anything that he did poorly.


WhitMarsh was retired before signing a 3 year contract in Oct of 2021. His contract was due to end in Oct of 2024. Whitmarch was primary brought in to build the 3 buildings, notice how his contract ended right after the building were finished.? In fact, Whitmarsh and Cowell are good friends and Andy was Martin's recommendation as his replacement. For the most part, Whitmarsh stayed out of the racing. I think Stroll just used him for his experience, run the day to day and the buildings, like Stroll used Krack. Krack was never a real TD, he was just keeping the seat warm. Cowell has made himself TD, for now. We'll see what happens after Cardile arrives, it may stay the same or it will change. Martin was all just part of the plan to build the team up for the next stage. The Newey, Cardile and Cowell stage.

That’s a fair take.

But I’d still argue that his management style and priorities could have indirectly impacted Fallow’s performance. So while he wasn’t hands-on in racing, he wasn’t completely disconnected either, especially after the failed upgrades.

If the technical side lacked the right support or alignment during that critical growth phase, some of that responsibility has to fall under his remit.

Cowell stepping in isn’t just about filling a gap, it’s about cleaning up what wasn’t working in the TD areas and above.

[Ashwinv16]

So uhm Alonso's race pace on the softs in FP2 was the 2nd fastest behind Piastri (only 0:100 difference) and he did 10 laps but Lance Stroll's Race pace was the Slowest in the entire grid with a average lap difference of 2-3 seconds. Think Alonso was in the 1:37 Avg (which is 0:400 more per lap then what Verstappen managed) and Stroll in 1:40's and the only own there. Obviously the F1 website says other things cause they are mad but it is Weird. However this also shows a lot of teams are sandbagging here, would not be surprised if a Ferrari or Red Bull end up in pole but would not be surprised if Aston is fast in the race.

[collindsilva]

So uhm Alonso's race pace on the softs in FP2 was the 2nd fastest behind Piastri (only 0:100 difference) and he did 10 laps but Lance Stroll's Race pace was the Slowest in the entire grid with a average lap difference of 2-3 seconds. Think Alonso was in the 1:37 Avg (which is 0:400 more per lap then what Verstappen managed) and Stroll in 1:40's and the only own there. Obviously the F1 website says other things cause they are mad but it is Weird. However this also shows a lot of teams are sandbagging here, would not be surprised if a Ferrari or Red Bull end up in pole but would not be surprised if Aston is fast in the race.

Can it be setup related, have they found a sweet spot or the new simulator paying off.

[RedNEO]

So uhm Alonso's race pace on the softs in FP2 was the 2nd fastest behind Piastri (only 0:100 difference) and he did 10 laps but Lance Stroll's Race pace was the Slowest in the entire grid with a average lap difference of 2-3 seconds. Think Alonso was in the 1:37 Avg (which is 0:400 more per lap then what Verstappen managed) and Stroll in 1:40's and the only own there. Obviously the F1 website says other things cause they are mad but it is Weird. However this also shows a lot of teams are sandbagging here, would not be surprised if a Ferrari or Red Bull end up in pole but would not be surprised if Aston is fast in the race.

Don’t give me hope lol. Hopefully they have found something

[Alo_Fan]

So uhm Alonso's race pace on the softs in FP2 was the 2nd fastest behind Piastri (only 0:100 difference) and he did 10 laps but Lance Stroll's Race pace was the Slowest in the entire grid with a average lap difference of 2-3 seconds. Think Alonso was in the 1:37 Avg (which is 0:400 more per lap then what Verstappen managed) and Stroll in 1:40's and the only own there. Obviously the F1 website says other things cause they are mad but it is Weird. However this also shows a lot of teams are sandbagging here, would not be surprised if a Ferrari or Red Bull end up in pole but would not be surprised if Aston is fast in the race.

Don’t give me hope lol. Hopefully they have found something

Sadly, Alonso was definitely carrying a significantly lower load of fuel then the others. I was watching the live timing at the time and I remember when he came out on his first lap he did a 29.2 in the first sector, which was only a tenth from his personal best, then he abandoned the lap and started his "long run".

[RedNEO]

So uhm Alonso's race pace on the softs in FP2 was the 2nd fastest behind Piastri (only 0:100 difference) and he did 10 laps but Lance Stroll's Race pace was the Slowest in the entire grid with a average lap difference of 2-3 seconds. Think Alonso was in the 1:37 Avg (which is 0:400 more per lap then what Verstappen managed) and Stroll in 1:40's and the only own there. Obviously the F1 website says other things cause they are mad but it is Weird. However this also shows a lot of teams are sandbagging here, would not be surprised if a Ferrari or Red Bull end up in pole but would not be surprised if Aston is fast in the race.

Don’t give me hope lol. Hopefully they have found something

Sadly, Alonso was definitely carrying a significantly lower load of fuel then the others. I was watching the live timing at the time and I remember when he came out on his first lap he did a 29.2 in the first sector, which was only a tenth from his personal best, then he abandoned the lap and started his "long run".

Thanks. At least we won’t go in with high expectations.

[-wkst-]

I don't know what's so special about the programme.

It's not the first time someone ran out of time (mostly because of problems) and doesn't do a proper short and long run, but instead a mix of both to maximize the available time. Which means ALO was probably heavier than usual in his short run but also lighter in the long run. Track evolution helped in the short run a bit.

STR looked completely lost yesterday, don't know why.

[GoranF1]

It's a serious bullcrap of a car ....just abandon it and focus on 2026

[OnEcRiTiCaL]

So uhm Alonso's race pace on the softs in FP2 was the 2nd fastest behind Piastri (only 0:100 difference) and he did 10 laps but Lance Stroll's Race pace was the Slowest in the entire grid with a average lap difference of 2-3 seconds. Think Alonso was in the 1:37 Avg (which is 0:400 more per lap then what Verstappen managed) and Stroll in 1:40's and the only own there. Obviously the F1 website says other things cause they are mad but it is Weird. However this also shows a lot of teams are sandbagging here, would not be surprised if a Ferrari or Red Bull end up in pole but would not be surprised if Aston is fast in the race.

Don’t give me hope lol. Hopefully they have found something

They found an axtra +1.9sec to the McLaren

[mvfad]

It looks like Alonso will be able to get through to Q2 without any major problems, maybe he'll get 14th. And Stroll will stay in Q1 between 17th and 19th... Nothing out of the ordinary.

[vas_04614]

Q1 for Stroll, Q2 for Alonso and 1-2 for Mclaren

[TLof]

Both are not making it today. Bearman had issues this session he will get in front and the Williams is a better car

[Sedaxel]

I think they're far from Q2. This car is hand by hand with the Sauber in the last position. And frankly, my opinion is that it's slower than Sauber.

Now, Alonso making p14 or so is possible... But just because he's used to make miracles every now and then. Apart from that, yeah, I think AM has managed to be the worst team of F1, even when it seemed to be impossible 2 years ago.