Alonso's Car Raises Suspicions on First Day of Testing in Bahrain

On Wednesday, the official Formula 1 season began with the first day of work. Although pre-season tests in a year with few technical changes hold relative importance, they serve to assess how well teams have learned from past mistakes. In this regard, Aston Martin has much to prove, as they made significant errors in 2024. Observing the AMR25's front wing flexing like last year's Red Bulls and McLarens (especially the latter) has raised many eyebrows.

The task for Aston Martin's engineers was to improve what was evidently a failed project. Even without Adrian Newey, who is not officially involved with this car (though his influence may be seen in future developments), Dan Fallows and his team have copied what worked for others. After all, inventing is about copying well, even if it's clearly illegal. Pre-season tests are also about testing the limits of regulations to see what can be exploited if necessary.

One of the first surprises on the opening day of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain came from Aston Martin, which Fernando Alonso debuted in the morning. The AMR25, featuring a complete aerodynamic overhaul compared to the 2024 model, described as "95% new" by the driver, was not as aggressive or uncontrollable as its predecessor. Without many long runs, the car appeared much more manageable, though not necessarily more competitive. Testing potentially illegal or dubious parts or technical solutions to gain precious tenths that separate obscurity from success is another goal. It is no coincidence that no one showed their true competitiveness, as expected.

Lewis Hamilton's debut, which also involved testing the run-off areas of the Bahrain circuit with Ferrari, was more aesthetic than useful. No one dares to rule him out yet, as expected, but he is not among the top favourites. Predicting that role now is practically absurd, and even they are unsure. If they were, they wouldn't coat the cars in paraffin to check how well the new models perform compared to computer simulations. Despite raising expectations, Aston Martin was the team that completed the fewest laps. Between Alonso and Stroll, they managed only 88 laps—46 by the Spaniard—compared to Haas's 160 or Racing Bulls' (formerly Toro Rosso) 154. Max Verstappen alone completed 74 laps in the Red Bull in the morning. Few laps but productive for the green cars.

If the morning belonged to Fernando Alonso, the afternoon was Carlos Sainz's turn. The Madrid native debuted in official tests with his fifth team, Williams, and made it clear that this car aims to make a quality leap. Although not achieving the best times, the long runs by Sainz before the subsequent interruption provided good reasons for optimism regarding Grove's improvement compared to last year.

The day's anecdote did not involve a driver going off track or similar, but something much more unusual. As night began to fall over the Bahrain circuit, an electrical system failure plunged everything into darkness. The lights went out suddenly, except for the illuminated flag panels and some advertising boards. Drivers and mechanics had to return to the pits if they were on track or refrain from going out until the issue was resolved.

Although an extra hour of testing was granted to compensate, the Sakhir circuit officials are under scrutiny once again, as a similar incident occurred in 2024. The engineers' frustration is understandable, as they cannot afford to lose time with only three days of testing before the first race of the year in Australia in a few weeks.