The fifth round of the 2025 Formula One World Championship saw the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team head to Jeddah, by the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, for the final leg of the season’s first triple-header. This year marked the fourth running of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the lightning-fast Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the track where last year Alonso had his best finish of the season – 5th, so hopes were high that Aston Martin, who came armed with a new rear wing upgrade for the AMR25, could increase their competitiveness after three consecutive non-scoring races. Andy Cowell, speaking in the Team Principals’ press conference, reaffirmed the team’s belief in the AMR25 development direction but remained measured: “There are encouraging signs, but we’re still finding the window.”
FP1 saw the AMR25s head out early on medium compound tyres and after a quarter of an hour both Alonso and Stroll had logged seven laps each and were running P9 and P16 respectively. There was focus on evaluating the new rear wing’s behaviour in the circuit’s high-speed corners and both drivers reported difficulty with rear-end stability, particularly through the tight, blind sweeping corners in the middle sector. At the midpoint of the session, with Alonso 14th and Stroll 18th both drivers switched to soft compound tyres for the second half of the session, although Alonso switched back to the mediums for his final stint. After a combined 47 laps, Alonso concluded FP1 in P14 and Stroll P17. FP2, run under nighttime conditions that would be representative of Qualifying and the Race, saw Stroll have a slide off the track and pay a visit to the run-off area between turns 1 & 2, due to rear locking up in the first 15 minutes. At the halfway stage Stroll was running 16th & Alonso 19th. With less than 10 minutes to go Tsunoda brought proceedings to a halt when he crashed his Red Bull into a wall, having misjudged the corner and the kerb. Although the car was cleared away and the session was restarted, there was little useful running time left and Alonso finished the session in P15, Stroll P18. The following day, FP3 on Saturday, the two AM drivers hovered around the lower end of the pack, with Alonso 14th and Stroll 18th at the halfway point. At the end of the session, both drivers had completed 19 laps, bringing the total Free Practice tally to 121 and they finished with Alonso still in P14 and Stroll last, in P20.
The evening having rolled in, it was time for Qualifying and both drivers made promising initial runs in Q1, with Alonso placing himself P3 and Stroll P7. But as track evolution favoured later runners and when all the cars had been out at least once, the pack was reshuffled with Alonso in P10 and Stroll P13. At the end though, it was only Alonso that advanced into Q2, having set a decent second lap to place himself in P12. Stroll, however, fell to P16, just 0.1s off from achieving progression - the fourth time he has been eliminated in Q1 this season. Alonso opened Q2 with a lap that initially and very temporarily placed him 7th, but after all the drivers had set their hot laps he tumbled rapidly down the order to P14. His final run could only move himself up 1 place and he finished Q2 in P13 and was thus eliminated. In the final Qualifying session Norris brought proceedings to a dramatic halt when he crashed his McLaren heavily into a wall, triggering a red flag. The Aston Martin DBX 707 medical car raced to the scene of the accident, but fortunately Norris was fine, more damaged by having lost the opportunity to place himself in a position to win the race. Verstappen ultimately took pole position, with Piastri and Russell rounding out the top three.
The Race on Sunday began with commotion, as off the start Piastri launched himself to be alongside and inside Verstappen going into turn 1, then at the next corner they were side-by-side and Verstappen went over the kerb and cut the corner, ending up ahead of Piastri, claiming that he was forced off track. Meanwhile, further down the grid, Gasly and Tsunoda clashed off the start, eliminating both cars immediately and required the deployment of the Aston Martin Vantage Safety Car. During the Safety Car period the Stewards assessed the Piastri-Verstappen incident and handed Verstappen a 5-second penalty for cutting the corner, gaining an advantage and not conceding the place back afterwards. When t the race restarted on lap 4, Alonso had moved up to 10th and Stroll was 14th. However, as the field settled into its rhythm Alonso’s AMR25 began to slip backward and he lost places first to Hadjar and then to Lawson. Stroll meanwhile had gained a place and was behind his teammate, in 13th. On Lap 20, Alonso pitted and rejoined the race in P17. Stroll, meanwhile, extended his first stint so that by the halfway stage he had climbed up to 9th. Shortly after he started his second stint Alonso was pushed wide by Bortoleto—his own protégé, going into the first turn. It could have been a lot nastier! Alonso overtook the rookie more cautiously and cleanly on lap 27. Two laps later he passed Doohan and then Ocon on lap 34, bringing him up to P13. Stroll meanwhile, with his tyres degrading, was overhauled first of all by Sainz on lap 31 and then by Albon a lap later. A few laps later he was passed by Lawson and eventually by Alonso as well on Lap 39. Stroll finally came into the pits on lap 40 and rejoined in P17. He smartly used the slipstream of race leader Piastri to get past Bortoleto with 3 laps to go but couldn’t climb any higher. Piastri went on to take the chequered flag and secured his third win of the season, less than 3 seconds ahead of Verstappen in second. Leclerc attained his first podium place of the season for Ferrari. As a 10-second penalty had already been handed to Lawson during the race the final classification was that Alonso was promoted to P11 and Stroll would be P16.
Despite a weekend filled with effort, a clean, incident-free run from both cars, strategy shifts and hints of progress, neither Alonso nor Stroll were able to break into the points in Sunday’s race. Stroll also achieved a dubious F1 record, for the most eliminations in Q1, after having failed to get into Q2 for the 75th time. Alonso was frank after the race: "It was a very difficult race here in Jeddah, but sadly we come away from this weekend with no points. We need to make improvements to the car, but we are all working hard to improve our situation. We won't give up and we will keep on pushing with Miami up next." Stroll highlighted the challenges with the tyre strategy: "We went long on the first stint, hoping for a Safety Car window as we didn't have anything to lose starting from P16. Unfortunately that didn't work out for us. We're far from where we want to be and just got to keep pushing to find more performance, we want to be a lot more competitive." Team Principal Andy Cowell reflected on the weekend by saying, “It was a very intense, flat-out all the way race in hot conditions, which made it very demanding on all the drivers. It was a well-managed race all round, but ultimately, we just missed out on the points. After an intense triple-header, we have a week back at base to regroup and understand how to improve in all areas and unlock more performance from the car."
Aston Martin leave Jeddah having shown some glimmers of improved strategy execution, but the raw pace of the AMR25 remains elusive. Alonso’s race craft ensured a near-points finish, but both cars were clearly lacking the grip and top speed to challenge the top eight. With Miami next on the calendar, the team will be hoping that a mix of further updates and a less aero-sensitive layout could offer better conditions for progress.