The update will shape the future of the AMR25 and overall plans for the rest of the season, according to Alonso’s team principal, Andy Cowell.
There was excitement at Aston Martin ‘s ‘House’ this Thursday morning. The kind that usually comes when important words are expected, in this case from Andy Cowell, who explained the improvements and what could come from them. It goes a little further than gaining four or five places on the grid, but also whether the new tunnel provides accurate data (the famous correlation) and decisions about the AMR25 and next year’s car.
If the upgrade introduced tomorrow, consisting of a new floor and a new upper body area, works, it could mean continued investment in developing this year’s car. “Possibly,” Cowell agreed. “I think after every race weekend, we reflect on what our ambitions are in each area, what needs improvement, and how we know we’ve achieved that. The only way we know if something meets the target is to test it properly, and in this industry, how do you properly test it on track during a race weekend? We’ll see. We’re going in with an open mind,” he said of the future of Alonso and Stroll’s current car.
The weekend is shaping up to be crucial and an initial test of whether Silverstone’s new wind tunnel, which he has described as “an amazing machine,” can provide any confidence in Aston’s upward trajectory, something that hasn’t happened since mid-2023.
The 2023 car was very good, but then the downturn
“In both 2023 and 2024, we started better than we finished, so there’s work to be done to understand how we operate as a team, with the equipment available, to ensure that at every race we make the car faster, more robustly, and more efficiently, which is something we always strive for.”
The pieces
“It’s a step. It’s a floor and upper body package, which continued to be worked on from the end of December up until the first race in Melbourne. A lot of the development work was done in the previous wind tunnel.”
“Not the entire aero team, because since January, part of the aero team has been working in the 2026 wind tunnel. The final details of the mapping were done in our new tunnel, and anything we decide to do after this weekend will be done in our new tunnel. I think what we’re trying to do is make sure that what we measure at the factory, the final mapping work in the new tunnel, is as comprehensive as possible.
“And the way we test here at the circuit, that third world of aerodynamics, that full-size car with its different stiffness characteristics compared to a wind tunnel model and running on a track with kerbs, bumps, undulations, and car movement. That’s what we’ll learn tomorrow, so we’re trying to be more comprehensive.”
The dangers of using two tunnels
“I guess it’s the saying, ‘He who has two watches, knows not the time.’ And that’s where we’ve tried to do the best job of confirming it.
And so, perhaps this update could have come a little earlier, but then it wouldn’t have been in our new tunnel. But we wanted to make sure the final mapping was done in our tunnel, so that what we have here is a good data set. Time will tell if it’s good enough, but nothing is perfect. No team achieves 100% correlation.”
Is handling expected to improve? The slow cornering?
“I’d like to improve in everything, and I speak for Fernando and Lance.”