Formula 1‘s Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend saw Aston Martin swing from fighting for the top five to wrestling to hold on to the top 10, but what caused such a drop off?
Aston Martin saw both cars make the top 10 in Sprint Qualifying for the first time since Hungary at the start of August and both drivers be competitive in the Sprint itself.
Fernando Alonso fought valiantly against the Ferrari pair for the top five, eventually succumbing to Charles Leclerc with just two laps to go, but still finished sixth.
While Lance Stroll just missed out on the final Sprint point, being overtaken late on by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, it was still a much better showing from the Canadian and from Aston Martin.
With higher expectations going into the Grand Prix sessions, it came as a surprise to the Silverstone-based squad that neither car made it to Q3, dropping out in 11th and 14th.
And it would get no better on race day either, with the highest Aston Martin of Alonso finishing a lowly 14th and just a handful of seconds ahead of team-mate Stroll.
But what changed in so little time between the Sprint and Grand Prix to see such a slump in performance?
The difference a day makes
In modern-day F1, track position is king, and this somewhat aided Aston Martin’s Sao Paulo Sprint performance.
Being able to get both cars into the top 10 and ahead of some of the more established front-runners like both Ferraris was a key factor in getting ahead of the pack.
Despite being only the sixth fastest team on average during the Sprint, Aston Martin’s elevated track position negated the pace advantage of the teams behind.
Ironically, Aston Martin arguably had Leclerc to thank for its higher-than-expected result as the Monegasque’s late spin in SQ2 prevented a lot of drivers from improving.
A much cleaner qualifying for some during Grand Prix qualifying saw Aston Martin slip back to perhaps the car’s truer performance for the weekend, as well as other teams making performance developments over the weekend post Sprint.
Teams like Ferrari have recently sacrificed some performance for the Sprint Rave to gather data for a better performance when it matters on race day, which would partly explain the Italian marque’s rather disappointing Sprint Qualifying.
Haas and Racing Bulls also made a step forward in terms of one-lap speed between the Sprint and GP, which also contributed to Aston Martin missing out on the top 10 for the race.
However, a drop in one lap speed did not affect the team’s race pace, as despite looking more off the pace in the Grand Prix compared to the Sprint, the Silverstone squad moved up a place to be the fifth fastest team on average, though aided by Ferrari’s nightmarish double DNF.
Another key factor, in particular for Alonso holding on for so long was tyre choice, with the switch to the Soft tyre coming to the Spaniard’s aid in holding off the quicker Ferraris after the resumption of the Sprint. However, it would be another call on tyres that saw Aston Martin head in the wrong direction at Interlagos.
Strategic miscalculations
Aston Martin chose to start both cars on what turned out to be the unfavoured Hard tyre, with the aim of going long and taking advantage later on with a softer tyre.
This, combined with Stroll’s early race spin at the hands of Yuki Tsunoda, saw Aston Martin’s race slip out of top 10 contention early on, something the team was unable to recover in the latter stages on the Medium tyre.
While Aston Martin probably saw the better of the Hard tyre compared to some of the others on the same strategy, the more favoured Medium tyre saw its opponents get the early advantage and therefore the track position that Aston Martin themselves had used to it’s advantage in the Sprint Race.
Once moving onto the Medium tyre, Aston Martin had all the work to do to recover the ground lost on the Hard tyre and would ultimately fall foul of the train which formed behind the battling one stoppers of Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg.
Catching up to a train of cars already including the second Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Gasly’s Alpine, as well as Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon, the prospects of clearing them all were slim at best.
With even the one stopping Lawson and Hulkenberg having plenty in hand to hold off the faster two stoppers, it was an even harder job to use the alternate strategy of starting on the Hards to Aston Martin’s advantage.
As it would transpire, the very same advantage that aided Aston Martin in the Sprint would see it walk away from the Grand Prix empty-handed as the ever-present trend of 2025 continues to be how track position is king.
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