{"id":34255,"date":"2025-05-25T05:17:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T09:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=34255"},"modified":"2025-05-25T05:17:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T09:17:51","slug":"alonso-hopeful-about-aston-martin-progress-after-monaco-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/25\/alonso-hopeful-about-aston-martin-progress-after-monaco-qualifying\/","title":{"rendered":"Alonso hopeful about Aston Martin progress after Monaco qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Misfortune has denied <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/26\/aston-martin-cowell-praises-alonso-and-stroll-line-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Fernando Alonso<\/a> points on multiple occasions this year, including last weekend&#8217;s Imola GP.<\/p>\n<p>However, unlike previous events where <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/24\/adrian-newey-aston-martin-must-improve-simulator-correlation\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Aston Martin<\/a> have scored points (Australia, China), the British team are no longer reliant on DNFs from front-runners to score points.<\/p>\n<p>The AMR25 is now capable of reaching the top 10 on merit, as demonstrated in qualifying at Monaco.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso managed P7 in Q3, at a circuit which &#8211; at least on paper &#8211; would have been a weakness for Aston before their newest package.<\/p>\n<p>Assuming that Aston Martin can navigate the next technical directive, they can be competitive in what remains of 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>Aston Martin upgrades deliver sizable step<\/h2>\n<p>Aston Martin&#8217;s difficulties with upgrades have been well documented, perhaps more than any team in recent history.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to last weekend, the AMR25 was often setting slower qualifying times than its predecessor &#8211; the AMR24.<\/p>\n<p>Although teams have spoken extensively about the incoming development &#8216;ceiling&#8217; of these regulations, Aston Martin were not only stagnating, but even regressing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_34257\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34257\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34257 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216082117-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fernando Alonso in Monte-Carlo. (Photo by Zak Mauger\/LAT Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This trend, for the first time since early 2023, began to change after the upgrades introduced to the car.<\/p>\n<p>Team principal Andy Cowell confirmed that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/14\/aston-martin-confirm-crucial-imola-upgrade-package\/\" target=\"_self\">Aston Martin&#8217;s upgrades<\/a> have delivered immediate performance.<\/p>\n<p>Cowell has refused to detail how many tenths the package was worth, but needless to say the improvement is significant.<\/p>\n<p>Adrian Newey, who began work at the factory in March, has spoken in glowing terms about the team&#8217;s new wind tunnel.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Newey warns that their simulator is not up to scratch &#8211; and improving its correlation will be a journey that could take a few seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, Aston have more updates planned for the upcoming weeks, including the British GP.<\/p>\n<p>Should these modifications build on their current baseline, they could feasibly compete with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/05\/07\/williams-warn-rivals-will-bring-upgrades-in-the-coming-rounds\/\" target=\"_self\">Williams<\/a> for P5 in the constructors standings.<\/p>\n<p>Upgrades always require a few races to optimise, in terms of set-up and operating window, so Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will be optimistic about making further progress.<\/p>\n<h4>Alonso reacts to Monaco qualifying<\/h4>\n<p>Alonso made Q3 for a second consecutive weekend, a clear sign of progress for the AMR25.<\/p>\n<p>Teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/28\/lance-stroll-treated-unfairly-argues-aston-martin-team-principal\/\" target=\"_self\">Lance Stroll<\/a> was unlucky to be eliminated in Q1, with traffic preventing him from improving on his final lap.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_34259\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34259\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34259 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/05\/2216096819-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34259\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fernando Alonso in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Zak Mauger\/LAT Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Still, as seen with the Canadian&#8217;s qualifying in Imola, he is also seeing the benefits of Aston Martin&#8217;s new package.<\/p>\n<p>Returning to Alonso, the Double World Champion reflected on one of his best sessions of 2025:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I&#8217;m very happy with P7 in Qualifying and I think we did the best job possible.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;It&#8217;s such a high adrenaline circuit here and you have to take a huge amount of risk around the lap.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;But this is what makes it the best Saturday of the year. It&#8217;s extremely rewarding as a driver.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;In a normal Monaco, P7 in Qualifying would normally mean the same result in the race, but with the new rules it creates different strategies and opportunities for everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Let&#8217;s see what happens and if we can be on the right side of the luck tomorrow.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo:\u00a0Zak Mauger\/LAT Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Misfortune has denied Fernando Alonso points on multiple occasions this year, including last weekend&#8217;s Imola GP. However, unlike previous events where Aston Martin have scored points (Australia, China), the British team are no longer reliant on DNFs from front-runners to score points. The AMR25 is now capable of reaching the top 10 on merit, as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":34256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[1566,2452,71,540],"class_list":["post-34255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-aston-martin","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-monaco-grand-prix"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34255","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=34255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34260,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34255\/revisions\/34260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}