Alonso issues warning: Aston must solve AMR25’s critical flaw

Fernando Alonso delivered a frank assessment of Aston Martin’s contender after last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, pinpointing a crippling weakness as a critical issue demanding immediate attention.

Despite internal restructuring and a fresh technical leadership team operating under the management of Andy Cowell, the AMR25 has significantly underperformed at the start of the 2025 campaign.

With the team sitting as the eighth-fastest in the field and Alonso yet to score a point, the mood in the camp is becoming increasingly urgent.

Speaking after another difficult weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso offered a brutally honest review of the AMR25’s shortcomings and where Aston should direct its immediate focus.

“We need some improvement, it was a difficult weekend, we expected to be slow here with all the low-speed content in Bahrain, but yeah, we need to improve the car,” he surmised in a conversation with the media at Sakhir.

“It’s not only the low speed, I think it’s a little bit everywhere, and we need to get better. Hopefully [Jeddah] will be a little bit more friendly to us, but yeah, scoring points seems difficult this year,”

The AMR25’s Achilles Heel

While Alonso acknowledged issues in multiple areas, he was quick to zero in on one particular performance gap that has proven most damaging: low-speed corners

The AMR25 struggles with insufficient mechanical grip to navigate slow corners effectively and lacks the aerodynamic stability to exit them with confidence.

This persistent flaw, carried over from 2024, has left the car unresponsive in critical moments, undermining Alonso’s efforts to extract performance.

“Yeah, I think low speed, low speed was our weakest sector in Australia, Japan and China, Bahrain is all about low speed and has been our least competitive weekend,” he said.

“So yeah, that’s where the focus has to be.

“I think we are trying everything we can, so it’s not that we are just happy with the results, we just need to make it to the track as fast as possible.”

• Read also: Cowell admits Aston Martin has ‘a lot of work to do’

When pressed to describe the car’s behavior through those problematic corners, Alonso offered a stark assessment.

“Tricky at the exit, but also mid-corner, so it’s like the car is dying in the low speed, so yeah, a well-known problem that we had last year as well and we still have this year,” he said.

A Reprieve in Jeddah?

With the Jeddah Corniche Circuit next on the calendar, Alonso sees a potential reprieve in its high-speed, flowing layout. However, he remains cautious about their prospects.

“I think Jeddah will be a little bit better for us, but I think to be in the points is a little bit difficult for us at the moment,” he says.

“[The] top four teams are in another league, and then there is always Haas, Williams, [Racing Bulls] a little bit ahead of us as well, so you quickly are the seventh or eighth team and in those positions you cannot score points unless you are very, very lucky,” he concludes.

“So yeah, let’s see, we will try our best.”

With rivals outpacing Aston Martin in both qualifying and race trim, and a persistent weakness in low-speed performance undermining Alonso’s efforts, it’s clear the team must act fast.

Otherwise, what began as a season of rebuilding could quickly become one of survival.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook