At the F175 Live event held earlier this week, Aston Martin unveiled their 2025 Formula 1 car, the AMR25, which features a livery pretty reminiscent of 2024 but carries forward a similar theme with the colour schemes of the other nine F1 teams. However, the AMR25 is quite distinctive when it comes to redesigning sidepods and a pushrod suspension system, both at the front and rear, being altogether quite different from several others of its class.
A Clean Slate After a Tough 2024
It comes very soon after an unhappy season in 2024 when the Aston Martin team finished fifth in the constructors' championship and had zero podiums-an obvious step down from their performance in 2023, which included eight podiums.
"The learnings from 2024 have buoyed most of the AMR25," said team driver Fernando Alonso. "The competition is really going to be tight in the last year of the current regulations, but I know the team has been working hard at the AMRTC to make sure we are ready."
His teammate echoed similar sentiments, with Lance Stroll chipping in, "Everyone at the AMRTC has put in a ton of hard work over the winter toward improving for 2025. As a team, we, of course, want to perform, and we will keep learning over the course of the year. What we are building here is such an exciting project, with great tools and talented people and 2025 is such a key year for us to make progress."
Technical Focus: Addressing Key Shortcomings
The AMR25 is, hence, critical for Aston Martin as a step towards recovery from different kinds of woes experienced. Some performance weaknesses bv particularly low-speed corner handling and through-corner balance were addressed from feedback from Alonso and Stroll among others.
It would also be the first car to fully benefit from Aston Martin's new and improved factory, built adjacent to the Silverstone circuit. This cutting-edge facility has allowed the team to spend more time honing the design before turning it into metal: as a result, the AMR25 has ended up much better developed and matured than its predecessors.
New team principal Andy Cowell, formerly with Mercedes and in charge of engines, highlighted during the F175 event that the new facility is clearly of great importance to the whole team having such a long time for design as well going into the 2025 season.
Looking Forward: Filming Day and Pre-Season Testing
On Monday, the drivers of Aston Martin would take the AMR25 for a first test drive during a filming day in Bahrain, purposed for the season by Mercedes and its W16 challenger. This will be close to the official pre-season testing, running from February 26-28 at the Sakhir International Circuit.
This is the last of its kind under the current F1 regulations in 2025; thus, the importance for teams to justify their developments before the next overhaul of regulations hit. For Aston Martin, AMR25 comes in as a platform to validate how much potential will actually convert into competitive action.
Alonso and Stroll will soon get on track for a big year for the team, and the hope is that much of what was learned last year will drive the team to stronger performances now. All this, with fresh technical development focus and now a world-class facility fully online, appears that Aston Martin is poised to prove itself come the new season.