Fernando Alonso calls on Aston Martin to “rest” ahead of key 2026 F1 season

Fernando Alonso has called on the Aston Martin squad to treat the remainder of the 2025 Formula 1 season as a test and get some rest ahead of a crucial 2026 campaign.

Aston Martin has had a disappointing year so far, failing to reach the podium for a second season in a row. The team’s 68 points mean it is in contention for sixth place in the constructors’ championship, with Racing Bulls and Sauber its main rivals on 72 and 55 points respectively.

However, this battle doesn’t matter much to Alonso, who reckons Aston Martin should experiment and focus on flawless execution over the last six rounds – while getting some rest ahead of F1’s new era, with revamped chassis and engine regulations, which Aston is pinning high hopes on.

“On the weekends we still need to perform at our best level,” Alonso said. “We need to keep the motivation high. We need to improve in some things that we need operational-wise to get better for next year. So we need to use these six races as a test in a way.

“Obviously, we need to have an eye into next year’s calendar and save a little bit of energy. Even if we are racing hard and we’re traveling for these next two months, we need to also think about having some rest as well early, now in the last part of the year, to start in January with the batteries fully charged.”

Aston Martin returned to the points in Singapore after struggling on the long straights of Monza and Baku, but what can the team hope for at the Circuit of the Americas, which features some high-speed corners?

When first asked about it, Lance Stroll nonchalantly replied, “I don’t know, we’ll see”, before being pressed further on the subject. “The lower-downforce circuits are more of a challenge for us,” he explained. “The higher-downforce, the car comes alive a little bit more.”

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Alonso was unsure what to think: “We had some challenges in the last two years here – even when in 2023 the car was performing well, we struggled here. We need to do something different than the last two events here to really score points.

“At the same time we come from Singapore being on the fast pace there. It’s a sprint weekend, which I think normally is an advantage for us.”

By “do something different”, the Spaniard was referring to the AMR25’s set-up, but declined to elaborate any further: “I think the level of complexity of the set-up will not be understood, so I don’t think that we need to explain it here.”

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording

Photos from United States GP – Thursday

We want your opinion!

– The Motorsport.com Team