Monza needs little introduction – it is a historical jewel of the F1 calendar. The Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the fabled “Temple of Speed”, compresses a season’s worth of straight-line running into 53 laps of 80%+ full-throttle punishment. Long straights into heavy-braking chicanes, fast direction changes over serrated kerbs and the commitment of Ascari and Parabolica reward a car with low drag, stable braking and excellent traction on corner exit. It’s also one of the most engine-sensitive circuits of the year: energy recovery, deployment timing and top-end efficiency are decisive, while braking stability and kerb compliance make or break the lap. For this circuit the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team engineers trimmed the rear wing, pared back beam-wing load and focused on mechanical balance to keep the car planted for this ultra-low downforce circuit that has the heaviest braking zones on the calendar. That being done, how would the AMR25 respond to the unique low-downforce demands of Monza — and whether the promise of Zandvoort could be carried forward into a very different kind of circuit.
Practice Sessions
Both AMR25s wasted little time in getting out on track for FP1. Stroll was first to head on track, placing himself in P7 early on. His initial feedback, however, was far from reassuring, reporting higher than expected tyre degradation despite having only completed a handful of laps. Alonso soon joined him on track and slotted into P4, showing early pace in the trimmed-out setup. The green machines circulated competitively through the first quarter of the session, with Alonso in P6 and Stroll in P8, the pair both inside the top ten and gathering useful baseline data. At the halfway point Alonso was still P6, but Stroll had dropped to P10. The session was then interrupted by a red flag after Antonelli and Norris scattered gravel across the circuit, forcing marshals to pause the action for a clean-up. Once running resumed, Aston Martin split their runs to collect more comparative data. With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Alonso remained P6 while Stroll improved to P8, but neither driver was chasing outright lap time. The session ended under a Virtual Safety Car when Russell stopped out on track. By then, Aston Martin’s positions had slipped to Alonso in P9 and Stroll in P15, with Hamilton topping the timesheets. The Monza circuit looked every bit the iconic stage it is when FP2 began, under bright skies and warm temperatures, with both Alonso and Stroll heading out early. Alonso quickly went second fastest, before Antonelli beached his Mercedes in the gravel (as he did in Zandvoort), which brought out yellow flags initially and then red. At that point, Alonso was P3 and Stroll P15. Once the session restarted, both Aston Martins headed out onto the circuit, this time on soft tyres. By the halfway mark Alonso had dropped to P11 and Stroll to P12, with both cars brought back into the garage for adjustments and a switch to medium tyres. In the final quarter of running, the AMR25s were again on track, but the pace was difficult to extract. With ten minutes remaining Stroll was P13, Alonso, which is where they finished when the chequered flag fell. Norris ended the session fastest. Saturday’s final hour of free practice offered teams one last opportunity to refine setups and race trim before Qualifying. Both Alonso and Stroll rolled out for early reconnaissance laps but returned to the garage without registering any times. About a third of the way into the session they eventually did head onto the circuit, on the slower hard compound tyres and their times reflected that choice - Alonso only P16, Stroll P18. At the halfway stage, by the time Alonso had returned to the garage he’d trickled down a place, while Stroll continued circulating in P18 before also coming back in. With just under 20 minutes remaining, both Aston Martins rejoined the action on the faster soft tyres. Alonso improved briefly, to P10, and Stroll to P14, but at the chequered flag Alonso had dropped to P12, Stroll to P19 – the session being topped by Norris. What was notable was that just one second separated the entire field from first to last, underlining how fine the margins were.
Qualifying
With the margins that close the stage was set for a tense and unpredictable Qualifying. Both Aston Martins went out early to bank times and their initial laps placed Alonso P7 and Stroll P11, though several drivers had yet to post a lap. Alonso then benefitted from a ‘tow’ down the long straight before the final turn, the famous Parabolica, and clocked a superb lap, leaping to P2 and underlining the AMR25’s potential when hooked up. As the clock ticked down, Alonso sat P4 and looked comfortable, while Stroll hovered precariously in P12. After all the final runs, Alonso secured safe passage in P6, but Stroll lost a tenth of a second in the middle sector and slipped to P17 and was eliminated. For a session in which just 0.865 of a second separated P1 from P20, that 1/10th made all the difference. A slight delay preceded the second session, but once underway Alonso wasted no time heading out. His first hot lap left him on the cusp of elimination, in P10, with 8 drivers yet to set a valid time. As he headed out for his final run, with three minutes left, Alonso had dropped to P12, but he found enough pace to climb to P7, ultimately finishing the session in P8 and safely into Q3. Incredibly, just 0.3 of a second covered the top ten, continually underlining how competitive it had become. In the final round, Alonso’s first attempt left him down in P10, with Verstappen setting the early benchmark. On his last run, Alonso improved marginally, securing P9. However, as Hamilton had a five-place grid penalty for an infringement from the race in Zandvoort, this promoted Alonso to P8 for Sunday’s race. Verstappen nabbed pole position, even though Norris broke the lap record just a few seconds earlier. The scene was set for an enthralling and very close race.
Race
As the tifosi packed the grandstands and created a sea of red prior to the race the FIA announced that Gasly would have to start from the pit lane as a penalty for Alpine not covering Gasly's car two hours after Qualifying had come to an end. This was in breach of the sporting regulations which outlines that all cars ‘must be covered and ready for FIA seals to be applied’ within two hours of the chequered flag. Consequently, Stroll would start 16th. Separately, the Stewards announced that Alonso and Stroll would be investigated after the race for alleged practice-start infringements upon leaving the pit lane – a cloud hanging over both drivers. When the tyre covers came off just before the start of the formation lap got underway it was revealed that Alonso would start on medium tyres but Stroll would be on hard tyres, giving him the potential to go longer. During the lap Hulkenberg was called on the radio to bring the car into the garage, due to a problem noticed on the team’s telemetry. When the red lights went out and the cars roared away, Norris had a slightly better start than Verstappen and they went wheel to wheel into the first chicane, with Verstappen cutting the corner. Immediately behind them, Leclerc overtook Piastri, to the delight and cheers of the partisan Italian tifosi fans. Piastri took the place back soon after and Red Bull instructed Verstappen to give the place back to Norris as their incident was ‘noted’ by the Stewards, which he did at the end of the lap. Further back, Alonso had moved up to 7th due to a poor start by Antonelli. Back at the front Norris and Verstappen battled wheel to wheel again and Verstappen regained P1 with aid of DRS and started to pull away. Hamilton, who also had a good start, caught up with and passed Alonso at start of lap 5. Further down the grid, Stroll became locked in combat with Ocon, attempted to pass, but was forced wide and ended up off track. This incident was investigated by the Stewards, for Ocon not leaving Stroll enough space going into a corner and forcing him off track and he was handed a 5 second time penalty. Stroll settled down to catch up the cars ahead and by lap 10 he was within DRS range of Lawson. Similarly, Alonso was within DRS of Bortoleto. Stroll then benefited when Lawson had to come into the pits and moved up to 15th. Stroll continued to gain track position: Bearman’s early stop elevated him to 14th and when Tsunoda pitted, Stroll moved into P13. His hard-tyre strategy looked to be paying off.
Alonso, meanwhile, continued to stalk Bortoleto. On Lap 20, both pitted simultaneously and the Aston Martin pit crew mounted hard tyres onto Alonso’s car quickly enough for him to emerge ahead of the Sauber and slotted into P15, 4 places behind Stroll. Two laps later though, cruel fate struck! Alonso went up the serrated kerb at Ascari a little too high, supposedly in the same place as he’d done for the previous 22 laps, the car bounced aggressively and it broke the suspension! The car limped back to the garage and was retired - the damage being terminal. Alonso would take no further part in the race and Aston Martin’s hopes of a points finish now rested solely on Stroll, who was making steady progress. He had Sainz, who was also under investigation for an incident, and Ocon ahead of him, so there was every likelihood he would gain places when they needed to pit and serve their penalties. At the halfway stage Stroll had moved up to P10 and into the points when Russell came into the pits for his mandatory tyre change. By Lap 29, Stroll was up to P9 after Antonelli stopped and when Sainz pitted shortly after, he was elevated to P8. But the Canadian’s defensive work was soon tested with 20 laps to go, when Russell, armed with fresh tyres, bore down on him and made the pass, demoting Stroll back to P9. Still, the attrition and strategy cycles continued to play into Stroll’s hands. When Hamilton pitted around Lap 41, Stroll climbed back into P8, though the seven-time champion swiftly reclaimed the place with fresher rubber and with just 10 laps left. At the front, there was a change in leader when Verstappen came in the pits, slightly less than an hour into the race and Norris took over the lead. 10 minutes later Norris had to come in for his tyre change, but a reliability glitch with the wheel gun on the front-left slowed the stop badly and he came out 3rd, behind Piastri, which wasn’t McLaren’s plan. Piastri was told to give up the place and he did. Back to Stroll, on Lap 49 came the moment that undid his afternoon. He was called in for his mandatory tyre change and he darted into the pits from P9. However, instead of rejoining in the thick of the points fight Stroll was stuck in his pit box due to an electrical issue with the pit stop traffic light system rig, which was still showing red when all 4 wheels were on the ground and Stroll could go but wasn’t being released. Consequently he emerged dead last in P18 which is where he finished the race – a second cruel twist in the afternoon, leaving Aston Martin bitterly disappointed. Verstappen went onto take victory, Norris salvaged second and Piastri completed the podium.
Regarding the practice start investigation that took place on their reconnaissance laps prior to the race, the Stewards determined that Alonso and Stroll had breached Article 12.2.1 i) of the FIA International Sporting Code and failed to comply with the race director's instructions. Despite the rule being broken, both drivers only received a warning due to the situation having been deemed as not dangerous.
Post Race Comments
The mood in the garage afterwards was one of frustration. Both cars had the pace to challenge for the fringes of the top 10 that could also have provided momentum into the latter part of the season, yet neither car came away with any points. Commenting afterwards, Stroll said, "It was always going to be a tough race for us. We managed to make up a few positions with our tyre strategy and staying out long on that first stint. Unfortunately, we had some reliability issues during the pitstop at the end of the race and ended up in P18. We will look into it and now look ahead to Baku in two weeks." Alonso was more displeased, "The race was going well for us and we were fighting for some points. We started well and had a good pitstop, but then we had to retire due to a suspension failure. We were using the kerbs the same all weekend, so I think it's bad luck that we ended up having to retire. It's a shame to lose more points in the Championship. We've been more competitive lately, so let's see how we go for the remainder of the season." Let’s see how they both emerge at the next race, heading East, to Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2 weeks’ time.