Aston Martin had a Friday (the 12th) of heavy work at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the venue for the Formula 1 Barcelona Grand Prix. With track conditions marked by heat and wind, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll focused their efforts on data collection to better understand the AMR25’s behavior on a circuit the team had already anticipated would be challenging.
During the opening free practice, the two drivers ran on medium tyres before switching to the soft compounds toward the end of the session. The same program was repeated in FP2, focusing on comparing compounds and obtaining information to inform the car’s adjustments. Over the course of the day, the pair completed a total of 85 laps.
In front of a Spanish crowd, Fernando Alonso highlighted that the team managed to meet the main objective of Friday, but admitted that there are still significant limitations in the car’s performance:
“We managed to put laps on the track today, so we collected a good amount of data and we know the areas where we need to work. We are still losing downforce and we had some balance issues with the car, so we are working within these limitations. We are doing everything we can to try to improve before qualifying tomorrow,” said the two-time world champion.
Aston Martin’s team principal, Mike Krack, reinforced that the difficulties encountered were anticipated by the team in Barcelona: “We knew this track would be a place where we would struggle in terms of performance, and that’s what we saw today. This is the reality of where we stand at the moment, but we will try to do our best for the rest of the weekend,” he concluded.
