{"id":30592,"date":"2025-02-19T14:56:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T19:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30592"},"modified":"2025-02-19T16:19:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T21:19:28","slug":"alonso-2025-aston-martin-is-90-different-to-predecessor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/19\/alonso-2025-aston-martin-is-90-different-to-predecessor\/","title":{"rendered":"Alonso: 2025 Aston Martin is &#8220;90% different&#8221; to predecessor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/05\/alonso-i-would-not-receive-the-same-benefit-as-george\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Fernando Alonso<\/a> and Aston Martin became something of an afterthought by the end of 2024, with the Silverstone team&#8217;s mid-season development falling short once again.<\/p>\n<p>Upgrades to the AMR24 in Imola, not for the first time, were counterproductive. They relegated Aston from a consistent top 5 team (occasionally capable of troubling the likes McLaren and Mercedes) into the clutches of the midfield.<\/p>\n<p>After another year of ineffective development has catalysed a series of big changes at Aston Martin, who aim to rebound with their 2025 challenger.<\/p>\n<h2>Alonso reveals drastic chances for 2025 Aston Martin car<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/07\/adrian-newey-reveals-chances-of-working-on-astons-2025-car\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Adrian Newey<\/a> grabbed all the headlines, but he was not the only key figures to join Aston Martin&#8217;s ranks last year.<\/p>\n<p>Andy Cowell and Enrico Cardile were other high-profile engineers to join Lawrence Stroll&#8217;s team.<\/p>\n<p>Cardile, formerly Technical Director at Ferrari, will be central role to Aston Martin reversing their downward development trend.<\/p>\n<p>He will also work in conjunction with Adrian Newey on the team&#8217;s 2026 car &#8211; which is obviously a crucial juncture for the Silverstone operation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/19\/sainz-reveals-high-expectations-for-2026-mercedes-engine\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Sainz reveals high expectations for 2026 Mercedes engine<\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, Andy Cowell, who was Managing Director of Mercedes Powertrains for over a decade, has already enforced big changes.<\/p>\n<p>Cowell arrived at CEO about four months ago, spending his first few weeks assessing the team&#8217;s strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n<p>The 56-year-old then implemented a series of sweeping changes to Aston&#8217;s technical hierarchy, including putting himself into the position of team principal.<\/p>\n<p>Cowell understands what a Championship-winning team looks like, having played a crucial role to Mercedes and their reign of dominance.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"ykn0MlcHRxdxPBSuUL1lEA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2200410941\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ykn0MlcHRxdxPBSuUL1lEA',sig:'QKlwn7YbSQ1nryQI7n65aihJkgUAKNNIl09q4nUrA8Y=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2200410941',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>With that said, the impact of his internal restructuring will not be fully felt until 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>For their 2025 challenger, addressing past mistakes is the priority, as Fernando Alonso explains:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We have to be careful,&#8221; <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/motor\/formula1\/2025\/02\/18\/alonso-desvela-detalles-interesantes-sobre-2025-coche-nuevo-95-mejoras-newey.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marca<\/a> quotes him as saying.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Because last year we suffered a bit, especially at the end of the season.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;It has only been 3-4 months since Abu Dhabi, when we were in some difficulties.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We have done everything we can and have changed many things in the car. We&#8217;ve changed 90-95% of the aerodynamics and aesthetics of the car.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I hope the results improve, but we know that everyone works hard during the winter, and it will be very close&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;So we have to be cautious with our decisions.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"WWi8muXkS7tVe5ZgRsQxng\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2200412822\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'WWi8muXkS7tVe5ZgRsQxng',sig:'umdsGZhejlOUZ4dRWOODo1FsgarkGTGemPeaE7kBp8U=',w:'594px',h:'386px',items:'2200412822',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Damage limitation before 2026<\/h4>\n<p>In retrospect, the decline Aston Martin experienced in 2023 will be even tougher for the team to swallow.<\/p>\n<p>Had the Silverstone team made even modest progress between 2023 and 2024, they could have had a chance to capitalise on a stagnant Red Bull.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the British outfit were struggling to outperform the likes of Alpine and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/02\/f1-haas-profitable-reach-budget-cap-for-the-first-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Haas<\/a> at the end of last year.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/17\/how-aston-martin-plan-to-reach-90-upgrade-success-rate\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Aston Martin<\/a> must use their past inefficiencies and correlation issues as motivation for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Over the coming weeks, the team will put the finishing touches into calibrating their new simulator and wind tunnel.<\/p>\n<p>This process will be essential for their 2026 development. Focus on the new regulations will undoubtedly pick up speed once Adrian Newey begins work in March.<\/p>\n<p>There are many uncertainties for Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin in the coming months, but none of them will excuse another season of missed targets when the new regulations arrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin became something of an afterthought by the end of 2024, with the Silverstone team&#8217;s mid-season development falling short once again. Upgrades to the AMR24 in Imola, not for the first time, were counterproductive. They relegated Aston from a consistent top 5 team (occasionally capable of troubling the likes McLaren and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":30593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[1566,2452],"class_list":["post-30592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-aston-martin","tag-f1-2025-season"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30592"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30644,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30592\/revisions\/30644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}