Alonso says Aston Martin’s new car is ‘step forward’ as he reflects on pre-season testing in Bahrain

Fernando Alonso believes that Aston Martin have made a “step forward” with their new car in comparison to its 2024 predecessor, with the Spaniard keen to see where the team stand when the season begins in Australia.

There were mixed fortunes for the squad during the three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, which culminated in a busy final day after Alonso stepped in for unwell team mate Lance Stroll during the morning session.

While Stroll initially returned to action in the afternoon, the Canadian completed 34 laps before handing back over to Alonso due to still not feeling well, meaning that the two-time World Champion recorded a total of 82 laps throughout Friday.

Speaking before he got back behind the wheel later on, Alonso was asked to summarise his pre-season testing, to which the 43-year-old responded: “Short! It’s already very short with a normal programme because it’s only one and a half days before the World Championship – very unique [to] this sport in that regard.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 28: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team — Alonso returned to action during Friday afternoon in Bahrain due to team mate Stroll feeling unwell

“But for us it was even shorter this time. First day we had a couple of issues from the telemetry side, on the second day it did rain in the morning, and then in the third day it was a normal programme but between all three mornings maybe not enough laps – but same for everybody, it rained for everybody! We’re looking forward to Australia.”

Team Principal Andy Cowell has spoken of the team’s desire to make the AMR25 more predictable and, when pushed on whether this has proven to be the case so far, Alonso explained: “Difficult to comment. I think you’d have to jump from one car to the other to really see the differences, but the car is for sure a step forward compared to the ’24 car.

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“The car is faster, the car and all the data that we have is correlating well and then we see more downforce in all the speeds and all the corners. Obviously it’s a relative gain comparing everyone else – everyone improves – but we will find out in Australia.”

This correlation is “very, very important” for the team going forward, according to Alonso, as they look to ensure that the whole operation is functioning smoothly following some structural changes at the squad over the winter.

Fernando Alonso ‘looking forward to Australia’ after testing in Bahrain

“It’s crucial for us to put things in place, and to have a perfect synchronisation between everyone in the factory and correlation between the wind tunnel – our own wind tunnel, for the first time – and trackside,” the Spanish driver said. “[The] ’26 rules are around the corner and we need to make sure that the rest of the team is ready to apply all the efforts.”

In terms of his first impressions of the pecking order after testing – and whether the top four teams from 2024 will remain in those positions this time around – Alonso admitted: “I don’t know much because I didn’t look at the test.

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“After lunch I was going back to the hotel and I was relaxing in the hotel and coming in at night for the meeting, so I know everything about our team and our testing programme.

“I know that [Carlos] Sainz was first [on Thursday], I saw the news, but even today I don’t know who is first and second. I guess the top four teams, they will keep an advantage, especially at the beginning of the year, but let’s hope we can be closer and closer to them.”

For now Alonso’s focus is on the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which is only two weeks away on March 14-16.

“Looking forward [to it], as usual,” said Alonso. “We’ve been doing a number of promotional days, media days, videos, interviews, sponsor events, and we want to go racing, so [I’m] looking forward [to it].”