Fernando Alonso has endured a tough start to 2025 but at Imola his fortune appears to have turned.
Aston Martin was the slowest team outright at Miami. But they introduced an upgrade for their car this weekend which, together with a bold strategy in qualifying, moved them up into the top half of the field on outright pace.Alonso took full advantage, planting his car on the third row of the grid, with only the McLarens, Max Verstappen and George Russell ahead of him.
Change from practice to qualifying
There wasn’t much sign of Aston Martin’s impending change of fortune on Friday, when Lance Stroll was first to run their extensive upgrade.
But in qualifying both drivers reached Q2, then switched to the medium tyre compound, having saved an extra set by not running it in practice. Alonso and Stroll reached Q3 at the expense of the Ferrari drivers.
That may well have flattered the gains Aston Martin have made with their upgrade. Ferrari was one of four teams which were slower in qualifying than they were in practice.
This was because all teams found it hard to extract pace from the soft tyre. Nonetheless, most persisted with it in qualifying, preferring to keep a fresh set of mediums for the race. It won’t be clear until tomorrow who has made the right call.
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Gaps between team mates
Imola is a demanding track and the gaps between the team mates were generally larger than in Miami. There is no value for the Red Bull drivers as Tsunoda crashed before he could complete a lap in qualifying. He had been over a second off Verstappen’s pace in final practice, but much closer the day before.
Team mate battle sequences
Having been 3-0 down after the first three grands prix, Carlos Sainz Jnr is now leading the qualifying battle at Williams 4-3 against Alexander Albon.
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Out-qualified team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 19 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | 13 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | 5 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 4 |
| 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 2 |
| = | Isack Hadjar | 2 |
| = | Esteban Ocon | 2 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | 1 |
| = | George Russell | 1 |
Out-qualified by team mate
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Stroll | 19 |
| 2 | Yuki Tsunoda | 5 |
| = | Lewis Hamilton | 5 |
| 4 | Alexander Albon | 4 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | 2 |
| = | Oliver Bearman | 2 |
| = | Liam Lawson | 2 |
| 8 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 1 |
| = | Lando Norris | 1 |
| = | Franco Colapinto | 1 |
Q1 and Q3
As Lance Stroll progressed beyond Q1, Nico Hulkenberg now has the longest run of first-round eliminations of any driver. Charles Leclerc failed to reach Q3 for the first time this year.
Eliminated in Q1
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Hulkenberg | 5 |
| 2 | Oliver Bearman | 2 |
| 3 | Yuki Tsunoda | 1 |
| = | Esteban Ocon | 1 |
| = | Liam Lawson | 1 |
Reached Q3
| Rank | Driver | Streak |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | 18 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | 14 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | 11 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | 10 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 4 |
| 6 | Alexander Albon | 2 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | 1 |
| = | Pierre Gasly | 1 |
| = | Fernando Alonso | 1 |
| = | Lance Stroll | 1 |
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2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
- Antonelli was tiring from home race at Imola attention by Friday – Wolff
- Ferrari struggling to recreate set-up which “worked well” in Shanghai – Hamilton
- Verstappen told Red Bull to use Tsunoda before “hold him up” call
- ‘Saturdays have been mine for years but for some reason it’s drifted away’ – Norris
- “Plan C?”: Why McLaren only got their strategy right for one driver at Imola
Alonso (@alonshow)
18th May 2025, 1:15
Verstappen’s streak of races outqualifying his teammate seems to be wrong. Unless I’m missing something, the last time Verstappen was outqualified by his teammate was Azerbaijan 2024. After that he outqualified his teammates in the last seven races of 2024, followed by the first seven races of 2025, for a streak of 14, not 13. This doesn’t include sprint race qualifying, by the way, which should be noted in the article.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
18th May 2025, 8:01
This has to be the hand of Newey doesn’t it?
They bring a load of new upgrades (including a new floor) and wham/bang …. they are back in contention for points.
Coincidence?
I think not.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
18th May 2025, 12:36
One session in qually where most teams got the tyre choice wrong and its Newey. The answer is no
BasCB (@bascb)
18th May 2025, 13:36
Yeah, I agree with Tony here. Sure, it might be that Newey helped AM finally being able to make upgrades that actually matter. But we have to get far more data before we can say that is the case. Now if the cars really are in the mix all this race, both qualify towards the front in the next 2 races as well and do decently in those races as well, THEN we can say AM did bring a really good upgrade.
Now it seemed they just were one of the few who judged right that the mediums were actually the better qualifying tyre.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th May 2025, 13:52
Newey told he had a few lunches with the small engineering team remaining on this year’s car though, while keeping focussed on the next car.
As they brought a floor upgrade, I wouldn’t be too surprised if that’s not a glimpse of Newey’s genius still.
I’d like to think so at least.
They performed on both compounds, so it isn’t just a good strategy call. But we’ll see indeed if the performence is maintained.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
18th May 2025, 12:15
I have a feeling that Aston Martin and both it’s drivers are very inconsistent this year. If that car was actually slowest last weekend, then Stroll’s sprint was one of the highlights of the season by any driver. His start was great and it wasn’t just strategy that helped out. But then this weekend, I don’t believe that the car suddenly can be one of the best, but at the same time, Stroll is barely behind Alonso time wise. Not sure how much that is related to the upgrade though. Alonso this season certainly hasn’t been great at getting points when they are clearly available. Hopefully he will get them this time out.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th May 2025, 13:37
They did bring an upgrade. And with how super tight Q2 was that might have helped but the thing that probably did the trick was their tyre choice – it was pretty clear going to the mediums was the right choice.