Formula 1 shuffled round the Mediterranean coast, leaving Monaco behind and pitching camp just north of Barcelona, for the last of this European triple-header set of races, at the Circuit de Catalunya, for Round 9 of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship. It is a track well known by the drivers which has a mix of high-speed corners, one of the longest straights in F1 and offers a complete test of the car's aerodynamic efficiency and balance – it has been a staple of the calendar since 1991. To add to the complexity, the FIA is introduced a new regulation requiring further tightening of the load tests applied to the F1 cars’ front wings, attempting to address concerns around flexibility and performance that teams might gain through the use of wings that flex under load. To combat this the span on the rear wing mainplane tolerance was reduced to just 0.5mm. For the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team, this was going to be a critical test to gauge the latest upgrade package on a traditional track circuit after the tight streets of Monaco. With Alonso racing in front of his home crowd the pressure was on him to finish in the points and for Stroll to try and build momentum.
Friday’s Free Practice sessions kicked off under bright Catalan sunshine, causing high track temperatures, meaning tyre management was going to be one of the key factors that all the teams would need to deal with. Aston Martin arrived with incremental updates to the AMR25, focusing on optimising low-speed cornering and stability through Barcelona’s demanding third sector and it would be the first opportunity to run the AMR25 with the new mandated wing and analyse how it performs. Both AMR25s headed out early and Alonso was showing promise in front of his home fans, by initially keeping within a tenth of a second of the McLarens, even going P1 at one stage. After 15 minutes Alonso was P2 and Stroll was P5. They then switched to testing the hardest tyre and, unsurprisingly, especially with an evolving track, went slower and tumbled down the order, so that by the halfway point Alonso had dropped to P5, Stroll to P10. Alonso then bolted on soft tyres, whereas Stroll tried the mediums and both drivers logged high-fuel runs as well as lower-fuel performance stints. Heading into the final 15 minutes, Alonso was P12 and Stroll could only manage P20, although he did improve by the end of the session, taking P12 from his team mate, meaning Alonso finished in P13 – this after coming on the team radio to complain that he was 2/10ths slower on the straight than he was on his first runs earlier in the session and asking for more power from the engine recovery system. By the time FP2 got underway track temperatures had risen further and, in theory, grip was improving, but it meant tyre degradation would be higher. After 15 minutes, Alonso, on medium tyres, was P6, Stroll was P16, also on medium tyres. They both stayed pretty consistent to that – at the halfway stage, Alonso was P7 and was Stroll P13. That is where Alonso stayed for the rest of the session, whereas Stroll dropped to P16 with 15 minutes to go and stayed there until the session finished. The start of FP3 on Saturday saw Alonso emerge onto the track after 5 minutes to huge cheers from the Spanish fans. However, he didn’t ‘race’ - he just did a little parade lap, waving to the fans as he drove round very slowly and then made his way back into the pits. He was certainly managing his tyres and emphasising the need to execute outlaps carefully. Eventually both drivers headed out for final practice, to focus on finding the optimum setup for Qualifying, with Alonso putting in 17 practice laps during the hour long session in which he ended up in P8. Team-mate Stroll put in 20 laps and he finished P15.
As the afternoon wore on, temperatures became more scorching. Stroll went out early and he placed his AMR25 in P1, ahead of 4 other drivers only though! With Stroll back in the garage, Alonso headed out, along with majority of the drivers, to get their first laps in and a time on the board. After the first runs Alonso was a respectable P7, with Stroll in P14 after a second run. With 5 minutes to go, all the drivers headed out for their final runs, but were held up by Colapinto, who couldn't get going from the front of the queue to head out on track and was holding everyone up. Stroll eventually got past the hold up and put in a super lap to finish P7. Alonso backed out of his lap to save tyres, but he still finished in P14, meaning he progressed to the next round as well. When Q2 got underway, Alonso seemingly wanted to get on with things immediately. Out he went but came back into the pits with no time set. A few minutes later he went out again, as did Stroll to set their initial lap times. After the first runs Alonso looked secured, going P7, but Stroll was only P14 – improvement was needed. After coming back into the garage for fresh rubber, Stroll headed back out on track to give it his all, followed by Alonso. Regrettably, Stroll was only able to get his car up to 12th, which saw him eliminated. A couple of drivers that went later set faster times than Stroll so that by the end of Q2 he was P14. Alonso though, finished P8, so he made it through to Q3. Once again, Aston Martin, in tyre conservation mode, chose to only go out for one lap and when Alonso did head out he managed to place himself a very respectable P5. The Aston Martin team looked very pleased with that lap. However, it may have been premature, as all the drivers that went out again beat Alonso's time, meaning he finished 10th. At the front, Piastri edged out Norris for pole position. Verstappen took 3rd place.
After Qualifying it emerged that Stroll was visibly angry with himself and damaged parts of the Aston Martin garage after being eliminated in Q2. He also fell foul of the race Stewards as he did not follow the usual procedures after climbing out of his car and did not attend the mandatory weigh-in. Instead he went to the garage, where the incident expressing his anger took place. Stroll then left the circuit and did not attend the Stewards hearing, which had been convened to consider his breach of the regulations and at which his presence was required. Aston Martin released a statement on Saturday evening stating Stroll would not take part in the race and that he was injured, relating to the previous fractures sustained in 2023 after the cycling accident he had prior to the start of the season. Here is the full statement:
www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/breaking-aston-martin-announce-stroll-to-miss-spanish-grand-prix.4FI8kbD2YhaiuMDhXgW8KO
With it being too late for Aston Martin to nominate a replacement, the team would consequently run just one car – that of Alonso – in Sunday’s race. It also meant that those that had qualified behind Stroll would each get promoted one position up the order on the starting grid for the race. Tsunoda, meanwhile, would start from the pit lane after changes were made to his Red Bull under parc fermé conditions. The solitary Aston Martin lined up on the grid for the 66 lap race on another hot and humid day and as the formation lap got underway it was revealed that all the cars on the grid had opted to start on soft compound tyres. When the red lights went out and the cars launched themselves off the start, it became clear that Hulkenberg had the best start of all the drivers and had moved up 3 places. Going into the first turn Alonso got clipped by Lawson but recovered and then battled Hadjar for position. By the end of the first lap Hulkenberg, who had passed Lawson, overtook Alonso going down the main straight. Alonso got the place back, briefly, at turn 3, then lost it again going around the next few turns. This put Alonso 11th and out of the points, but just minutely more than a second behind Hulkenberg, who had to pit early, on lap 10, for fresh tyres. This allowed Alonso to regain 10th spot and he moved up another place when Gasly pitted. Four laps later though, Alonso slid off track at turn 5 and into the gravel, but his speed ensured he didn't get stuck in it, but he lost 2 places though and was noted by the Stewards for an unsafe return to the track. With his tyres impacted by the gravel he had to come into the pits on the next lap (16) and switch onto fresh medium compound tyres and he rejoined the race in 19th place – last! Fortunately, the Stewards decided no further action would be necessary for his earlier transgression. On the fresher tyres, Alonso was soon able to dispense with Colapinto and Sainz and haul himself up to 17th by lap 19 and then he benefited from Bortoleto and then Ocon coming into the pits, so that by lap 25 he had moved up to P15 and to within a second of Lawson just ahead. They both passed Albon and also profited from Tsunoda and then Gasly coming into the pits, so that at the halfway stage, Alonso was 12th, still chasing Lawson, who was about a second ahead and battling with Bearman. Lawson got past Bearman, as did Alonso, as Bearman headed into the pits anyway, meaning that Alonso was back up to 11th on lap 36. However, over the next 4 laps Alonso dropped 4+ seconds behind Lawson so it became clear that it was time for Alonso to come into the pits again for fresh tyres, which he did on lap 44. Although he came out 17th he soon cleared Sainz, gained 2 more places when Tsunoda and Ocon came into the pits and once again found himself within a second of Lawson, who was chasing Bearman again. Further ahead of the three, Bortoleto came into the pits, which advanced Alonso up to 13th. The Lawson-Bearman battle briefly got in the way of Norris & Verstappen, who were having their one battle, but for 2nd position. Alonso eventually got past Bearman on lap 53 and was in 12th place when Antonelli went off track and got stuck in a gravel run-off area, which required the deployment of the Safety Car. Most of the drivers, including Alonso, dashed into the pits for fresh tyres to take advantage of the ‘free pit stop’ under Safety Car conditions. Some of the drivers didn't pit which meant that Alonso was P13 when he emerged from the pit lane. The race got back underway with just 7 laps to go and Alonso soon passed Bortoleto to move up to 12th and then overtook Ocon on lap 64 and into 11th place. He was then just 0.3 of a second behind Lawson and passed him on the final lap. Alonso finished 10th, finally securing his first point of the 2025 season – he was absolutely elated to be able to achieve that at his home Grand Prix. Piastri won the race, ahead of Norris and Leclerc getting the final podium position. However, the result didn’t rest there. After the Safety Car had come in and the race was back underway, Verstappen, trying to defend 3rd place on sub-optimal tyres had a coming together with Leclerc and two with Russell. It may have been a case of ‘red mist’ but the Stewards deemed that he had deliberately driven into Russell, whilst being instructed to give his place up and handed him a 10-second penalty. That demoted him to 10th place and elevated Alonso to 9th – doubling his points tally for the day, gave him his best finish of the season & maybe he was no longer ‘the unluckiest driver on the grid’.
After the race, an elated Alonso said, "It's always special racing at home, and it means a lot to score my first points of the season here in Barcelona. The support from the fans was amazing. The pace of the car wasn't quite where we wanted it to be, especially after feeling strong yesterday. I struggled to overtake on the straights so I had to get quite creative at Turn 3. I'm happy to take the points in the end and now we'll look to keep the momentum going as we head to Canada. We missed Lance today and I wish him a quick recovery." As we all do.
And as Alonso stated, after this European triple-header, there is a break from racing next weekend before Formula 1 crosses the Atlantic again to return to North America for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Post-Race Reflections
Speaking after the race, Fernando Alonso said: "It’s always special to race in front of the Spanish fans. We got the maximum out of the car today. There’s still work to do, but we’ll keep pushing."
Lance Stroll commented: "It was a tough race with high degradation, but the strategy helped us make some gains. Hopefully Austria will suit us better."
Team Principal Andy Cowell added: "We showed small steps of progress here. The midfield is incredibly tight, and we need to extract every tenth moving forward."
While a double points finish eluded Aston Martin in Barcelona, the incremental improvements and data collected offer hope for the upcoming rounds. With a double-header looming — Austria and Britain — the team will aim to build on this momentum.