Formula 1 rolled into the Hungaroring, near Budapest, on the banks of the Danube River, for Round 14 of the 2025 season, for F1's final race before the summer shutdown. The circuit is tight, twisty and technical, reminiscent of a super-sized kart track. with a relentless sequence of medium-speed corners and, despite DRS, having limited overtaking opportunities. For the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team the weekend offered a chance to lick their wounds and move on from the poor results in Belgium. They also brought a new front wing upgrade which, it was judged, would suit the characteristics of this particular circuit. For Fernando Alonso, having celebrated his 44th birthday earlier this week, he was hoping that there could be a possible repetition of his maiden Grand Prix victory in 2003. We were going to find out.
The race weekend would revert back of a normal format, however, during the week Alonso had sustained a back injury, maybe as a result of those birthday celebrations, which required reserve driver, Felipe Drugovich, to take Alonso's seat for the first Free Practice Session (FP1). Early indications showed him displaying decent pace so that after 15 minutes he was running in 16th place, ahead of Stroll, who had only been on track for 5 laps and was only 19th. At the halfway stage though, Stroll had improved and was 14th with Drugovich Just one place behind, in 15th. Stroll continued to improve and when there were just 15 minutes remaining he was up to 9th but Drugovich was still 15th. At the close of the session, Stroll finished in P10, Drugovich P16. A few hours later FP2 got underway and Alonso was back in his normal seat and took to the track relatively early, as did Stroll. After 15 minutes Stroll had the upper hand and was in P9, but Alonso was only P16. On his next fast run though Stroll went P1, impressively showing the potential pace that the Aston Martin car and setup had. At the halfway stage, Championship leader, Piastri was the only driver to have deposed Stroll, moving him down to P2. Alonso though was languishing in P18, 2.6 seconds behind Stroll. Into the final 15 minutes Stroll was still doing well, in P4, but Alonso, impervious to his back injury, was up to P5. That is where they both remained at the finish of the session - Stroll in P4, Alonso P5. The following day the Aston Martins headed out on track shortly after the start of the final practise session. However, they toured round very slowly, presumably just scrubbing in the tyres - theoretically hardening the compound before starting their proper practice runs! After a quarter of an hour, Stroll went out and put himself in P1. Alonso then headed out and on an evolving track tucked himself into P9. At the halfway stage, Stroll was in P9 and Alonso had dropped to P15 but then the positions and true form of the pair started to be revealed as it headed into the final 15 minutes, when Alonso put himself P9 and Stroll, on soft tyres, hauled himself up to P4. Alonso then came out on soft tyres and went 6th fastest, dropping Stroll down to 7th. The Aston Martins decided to put in one final hot lap but the track had stopped evolving and they stayed 6th and 7th.
Later in the afternoon it was time for Qualifying and both the AMR25s were reconfigured to use the previous floor along with the new front wing. Alonso and Stroll headed out to set representative qualifying times and after their first fast laps Alonso placed himself 4th and Stroll 5th, ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen. The Mercedes pair of Russell and Antonelli then pushed the Aston Martin pair down to 6th and 7th, then Hadjar took 7th. By the time our drivers had got back to the pits Alonso was P6, Stroll P8. Minutes later they came out a bit early for their final runs, so as to avoid all the cars being on track at the same time. On a clear track Stroll set the third fastest time and Alonso the fastest, which pushed Stroll down to P4. The rest of the drivers then headed out to see if they could beat Alonso and it was only Championship leader Piastri, in a McLaren, that just managed to pip Alonso to P1, by 7/100ths of a second. Q1 ended with both Aston Martin drivers safely into the next round, with Alonso in P2, Stroll P9. It was looking as if this particular track really was suiting the Aston Martins this weekend. When they came out at the start of Q2 there were signs of slight rain in some areas of the circuit, but nevertheless Alonso set the fastest lap, getting his lap in early before the rain could affect the car’s performance. Following him round, Stroll then went P1, but Alonso had been fuelled enough to go round again and he retook P1. The Aston Martins were sitting P1 & P2. It wasn’t for long though, as Norris in the other McLaren was going quickly and he took P1, followed by his teammate, Piastri, who took P2. After all the first runs by all the drivers, Alonso was still P3 and Stroll P4. Stroll decided that he would head out for a final run and placed himself P3. Alonso on the other hand decided he was safe where he was, would conserve tyres and didn't bother to go out again. He was vindicated with that decision, as at the end of the round Stroll remained P3 and Alonso only dropped to P5 as only Russell put in a faster final lap. In the final round, Q3, the Aston Martins again set the fastest pace to begin with – Alonso securing P1, Stroll P2. But once again the McLarens went faster, as did Russell. Then came the news that Stroll would have his lap time deleted as he had exceeded track limits. After a brief interlude the Aston Martin pair went out early to set their final fast laps, with Stroll needing a tidy one as well, which he did, going P3, 1/10th of a second behind Piastri. Alonso got even closer, going P2 by a mere 8/1000th of a second behind Piastri. However, at the very end, Leclerc in a Ferrari surprised everybody and snatched pole position. The Aston Martins secured 5th place for Alonso and 6th for Stroll, thereby locking out the third row of the grid and achieving their best Qualifying positions as a team this and last season. Was a podium possible for the race?
After the proverbial dust had settled for the surprising but pleasant ending to Qualifying and aided by the rain that had fallen on the circuit earlier on Sunday, the drivers were greeted by dry, gusty and slightly cooler conditions as the race start approached, with a small chance of rainfall predicted during the race. When the formation lap got underway for the 70-lap race, the final one before the mandated summer break, it was revealed that the Aston Martins would start on medium compound tyres, meaning that it was most likely that two pit stops for tyres would be expected. From the start, although they all got cleanly away, Norris got boxed in by Piastri on the inside of the first right-hand turn, which allowed Alonso to sneak up alongside on the outside and Alonso and Norris then hurtled down the next short straight wheel to wheel, but with Norris on the outside for the next left-hand turn and he had to concede the place - Alonso was up to 4th. Stroll didn’t have such a good start and he got overtaken by Bortoleto, so that at the end of lap 1 Alonso was P4, Stroll P7, with Stroll having current World Champion, Max Verstappen close behind him. At the start of lap 3, when DRS was enabled, Norris, now settled, was able to repass Alonso down the main straight and later on in the lap Verstappen made a super overtake on Stroll. On lap 10 Alonso was 5th, with Bortoleto and a train of cars behind him and seemingly falling away from the top 4, with Stroll in P8. However, this was to be all part of the ‘wily fox’s’ tactic. On lap 17 Verstappen was told to ‘box’ and he came into the pits for his first set of fresh tyres, which allowed Stroll to move up a place. 3 laps later, race leader Leclerc came into the pits for his first stop for fresh tyres, as did Russell and on the following lap Piastri came in for fresh tyres in order to cover off Leclerc. This allowed Alonso to temporarily move up to P2, but very shortly Leclerc had caught up and passed Alonso, with the benefit of DRS and fresh tyres. It was then Piastri’s turn to loom large in Alonso’s mirrors and he was passed at the end of the lap. Finally at the start of lap 26, it was Russell’s turn to get past Alonso, which is when it started to emerge that maybe Alonso was nursing his tyres and going for a 1 stop strategy only. At the beginning of lap 30, Alonso was where he started in P5, with Stroll in P7. At the front, Leclerc took over the race lead again when Norris pitted for his one and only stop. On lap 38, having gone just over half the race distance, Stroll was the first Aston Martin driver to come into the pits for fresh hard tyres – he came out 12th and on the next lap he passed Sainz for 11th spot. Eventually, on lap 40, Alonso came into the pits for his change to fresh hard tyres and came out 8th, but shortly afterwards his positioning was made easier when drivers just ahead came into the pits for their tyre changes. As lap 42 started Stroll passed Hulkenberg, meaning that he was up to P9 and Alonso was P6. Stroll continued his progress on the fresh tyres and passed Lawson for 8th place. Ultimately, as Verstappen had pitted so early on in the race he had to come in again which elevated Alonso back up to 5th and Stroll up to 7th. Now there were just 20 laps to go and although at times it looked like Bortoleto was catching Alonso, our matador always managed to pull away if ever it looked like the gap would decrease to within a second. And that is how the race concluded for the Aston Martin pair – both of them maintaining their positions until the chequered flag. Upfront however, a titanic battle was taking place between the two McLarens, who were under no team orders except to not crash into each other. Norris had no choice but to opt for a one stop strategy and he was trying to keep life in his tyres and fend off the relentless onslaught of his teammate who had opted for a two stop strategy. Norris managed to keep Piastri at bay, just, to the very end and was able to claim victory. Aston Martin were able to secure the best overall finish of the season for themselves and to haul themselves up to 6th place in the Constructors’ Championship and within striking distance of Williams. It was a superb way to head into the summer hiatus.
After the race, Alonso commented, “The best weekend of the season for us, fifth and seventh. A well-executed race, good pace, good tyre management, and the best way to go into the summer break. I wish all of our fans, everyone in the team, partners an enjoyable four weeks off and we will come back faster and more motivated for the second part of the year.” Similarly Stroll said, “It was a great day for the team and a solid weekend from start to finish. Heading into the summer break with 16 points is a big uplift for us. But we have lots to learn from this weekend because we don't fully understand why we were more competitive here. We'll see how we go in Zandvoort after the break because it's a very different kind of track." The Hungarian Grand Prix underlined the importance of execution and strategy for Aston Martin. There is also no doubt that the tight, twisty nature of the Hungaroring played much more to the AMR25’s strengths – the improvements coming down to the high-downforce requirements of the Hungaroring, negating the dragginess of the car, which was revealed in Spa. Nevertheless, Alonso demonstrated the value of experience and tyre management and as Stroll implied, evidence of Aston Martin’s true performance will be laid bare at the challenging Zandvoort circuit at the end of August.