After a Saudi Arabian Grand Prix where the team split strategies and missed out on points by a whisker, the team had a chance to regroup and spend a week back at base, where some minor upgrades were reportedly available for the 6th race of the season in Miami. I was able to get to this race in person and report trackside, but more importantly, I was joined by the contingent from Area 00 that had shipped their Aston Martins to Canada and driven from Halifax, Nova Scotia to the tip of the Florida Keys and back to Miami for the race. The Miami International Autodrome, located around the Hard Rock Stadium, that normally plays host to the Miami Dolphins American football team wasn’t going to offer any opportunity to ease into things gently, as the race weekend would follow a Sprint race format, which meant everyone needed to be at their very best from the moment the pitlane opened on Friday for the one and only Free Practice Session.
Stroll headed out of the garage first, shortly followed by Alonso, both on soft tyres. They immediately came back in again, without finishing the lap and both had their tyres changed. Out they both went and again came back into the pits before completing the lap and changed tyres again, this time onto the medium compound. (Maybe this was to ‘scrub’ the soft tyres in first, before using them in earnest later?) Round they both went and again they didn’t complete the lap, but came in again, this time for what seemed like adjustments to the wings and ride height of the cars. With 15 minutes of the session passed, neither Aston Martin driver had posted a truly representative time and after 20 minutes Stroll came into the pits and had the nose cone replaced on his AMR25. Alonso also followed Stroll in, but as the pit crew were still busy dealing with Stroll’s car, Alonso just cruised past his normal stopping spot and back out onto the track. Now, finally, the AMs started to put some proper laps in and by the halfway stage Alonso was P13 and Stroll P18. Alonso then came in to have the nose cone replaced on his car, suggesting persistent setup refinement. Yet with 15 minutes to go they were still P13 & P18. They both came in at that point and switched back to the soft tyres, upon which they began putting in more consistent laps in the final part of the session. With five minutes to go, the session was brought to a premature halt, when Bearman crashed into a wall which necessitated red flags. The session did not restart and Alonso finished a respectable 10th, while Stroll was classified P20.
A few hours later Sprint Qualifying began in earnest on a busy track. Alonso seemed to get to grips with the conditions and he was hovering in 5th place after his first set of runs, while Stroll managed to haul himself up to 12th. After returning to the garage for tyre changes, their final SQ1 attempts saw Alonso progress into SQ2, finishing in 13th, while Stroll was pushed down to 16th and eliminated, after being on the cusp, in 15th, after his final run. Alonso didn’t venture out for any early runs in SQ2, preferring to gamble on securing a single flying lap at the very end, which he did by finishing 9th in the dying seconds of the session. This would be the first time this season that any Aston Martin had made it to the top 10 in any session. However, Alonso couldn’t maintain the momentum in SQ3 and he finished it in 10th spot, 1.3 seconds behind rookie Kimi Antonelli, who stormed to a surprise pole in his Mercedes.
The following day, persistent heavy rain had created conditions that nobody was expecting, so the Sprint Race began behind the Aston Martin Vantage Safety Car. The grid went round a couple of times before the Stewards decided that it was too wet and dangerous to continue and out came the red flags and the cars followed the Safety Car into the pit lane. After a lengthy delay, until the rain abated, the cars followed the Safety Car out of the pit lane and onto the track. They went round in formation, providing feedback to the Stewards as to whether it was safe to race, and after 2 laps it was decided to start the race properly. The grid assembled in formation and the race proper was started from a standing start, on a damp but drying surface. At the start, polesitter Antonelli lost out to Piastri, the McLaren man holding the inside line at turn 1 to move ahead pushing Antonelli wide and onto a wet patch and he slipped down to 4th. Alonso meanwhile, gained two positions off the start, to move into 8th, and Stroll climbed 5 places, to 11th after a strong start for him. At halfway, both AMR25s maintained their positions, while the McLarens were 1-2. As conditions improved, Hamilton was the first to pit for slick tyres. Stroll followed suit, as did many other drivers, allowing Alonso to creep up to P4 temporarily, when he was called in. The earlier stop gave Stroll a clear advantage and Alonso exited behind him in 8th, but his race was ended abruptly when Lawson clipped him from behind during lap 14. The resulting Safety Car favoured the leading McLarens, particularly Norris, who pitted from the race lead (Piastri having pitted just before the crash) and came out in the lead behind the Safety Car. On the restart, only a few hundred meters of the lap remained and Norris won the race to the finish, ahead of Piastri and Hamilton. Stroll came past the chequered flag 7th, but was instantly promoted to 6th as Verstappen had received a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release during the race, and later, was bumped up to 5th after a 5-second penalty was handed to Albon for not driving slowly enough behind the safety car. Stroll collected 4 valuable points for himself and the Team—their first since the season opener in Australia.
After all that action in the Sprint, we still had Qualifying for the main event. The big question for AM would be whether the mechanics would rebuild the car in time! Fortunately they completed the repairs—including replacement bodywork and front suspension and the session began after a brief delay due to more rain falling on the South Florida track which created tricky conditions. Stroll was one of the first cars out, but it didn’t appear to benefit him, as Alonso’s initial flying lap briefly put him at the top of the timesheets and over a second faster than his team-mate, but as the track rubbered in, he was pushed steadily down the order. With 10 minutes to go Alonso was in P5, with Stroll, still struggling to find grip and balance on his runs, down in the elimination zone, in P16. Both Aston Martins came in for a second set of tyres and launched their final Q1 laps with 5 minutes remaining. Yet despite improving their times, neither driver made it through. Alonso finished P17, while Stroll was P19. The upgrades brought to Miami didn’t yield the expected results and Aston Martin would once again face a race starting from the lower quartile of the grid. Max Verstappen, once again, defied his critics and grabbed pole position, followed by Norris and Antonelli.
Further rain hit the Sunshine State ahead of the Grand Prix, but the circuit dried up enough for the drivers to begin on dry tyres, but patches of water remained. The drivers went round for the formation lap and lined up for start with the threat of rain looming. Off the start, Verstappen initially led away from pole, but Norris had pulled up almost beside him. Battling into the 1st corner saw Norris run wide and drop down the order – letting Antonelli, Piastri and Russell through in the process. Further down on the first lap saw contact between Doohan and others going into turn 1 as well, prompting yellow flags being waved in that sector and the brief deployment of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). The AM duo opted for opposite strategies, with Alonso beginning from P17 on hard tyres, while Stroll started on medium tyres from P18, having moved up a place as Gasly had opted to start the race from the pit lane. Both AMs gained places off the line and avoided both of these incidents, with Stroll, on his ‘faster’ tyres, having a very good start and moving up to P15 by the end of the first lap. Five laps later, after the VSC period was over, Stroll was still running in P15 and Alonso in P17. On lap 9, Alonso spun on the wet kerb exiting turn 7 and dropped back a position. Upfront, on lap 1, after numerous previous attempts, Piastri finally made an overtake on Verstappen stick, to take the lead. Norris joined the battle and passed Verstappen himself on Lap 17. It was a strong showing from McLaren up front, but Aston Martin were much more static, only gaining a place when those ahead pitted for fresh tyres. Stroll himself was one of the first to pit, on Lap 21, and came out on hard tyres and rejoined in P18, a move hinting at a long final stint. Alonso continued on his harder tyres, climbed up to P13, pitted during a Virtual Safety Car period on lap 28 and rejoined 17th, just behind Stroll. The VSC was triggered after Bearman stopped off track with mechanical problems. By Lap 31, Alonso had passed Stroll, benefitting from fresher rubber. 2 laps later the VSC was deployed again, when Bortoleto stopped on track. Because of these retirements, the Aston Martins moved up to 15th & 16th but their pace was not sufficient to capitalise anything more. Before the end of the race, the frontrunners, Piastri and Norris had lapped the Aston Martins, an uncomfortable sight for a team that was on the podium at this race, in 2023, when Alonso finished 3rd. Neither AM car made any further gains in the closing laps and Piastri secured the race win, ahead of Norris and Russell. Alonso finished P15, Stroll P16.
After the race Alonso was measured and reflective: “Tough race. We didn't have the pace the whole weekend, and we expected the race to be difficult. We faced similar challenges today that we've had all season and couldn't capitalise on any chaos ahead of us. We need to get better and hopefully in Imola take a step forward.” Lance Stroll said, “Difficult race for us today and very tricky conditions, as we expected. We just simply lack pace – we've been slow all season so far and today wasn't any exception. With an uneventful race and no opportunities, it just shows how we're not competitive and need to look at improving the car in all areas.”
The Miami race concluded another challenging weekend for Aston Martin, whose 2025 campaign continues to stall. While Lance Stroll’s fourth-place Sprint result salvaged a few points, the team’s struggles in qualifying and lack of race pace persist. With Imola on the horizon, hopes are pinned on further substantial updates to the AMR25 and better adaptation to more traditional circuits. As McLaren emerge as the clear challengers to Red Bull, Aston Martin must regroup quickly to avoid being cut further adrift in the Constructors’ standings.