The Paddock descended in Brazil once again, as the São Paulo Grand Prix returned to the historic Autódromo José Carlos Pace — affectionately known as Interlagos — for Round 21 of the 2025 season, every point carried amplified significance, especially in the tightly contested midfield battle, where very little separates sixth from ninth in the Constructors' Championship, being where the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team finds itself. The 4.309 km undulating Interlagos circuit features frequent elevation changes, blind crests and unpredictable São Paulo weather, especially as a tropical cyclone was in the forecast. Alonso has been on the podium 10 times at this race in the past, most recently in 2023 when he valiantly defended against Perez for 20 laps to take 3rd place. Having failed to score any points in Mexico and with just four Grands Prix and two Sprint races remaining, this weekend being one of them, everyone was eager to get back on track at a circuit where results hang in the balance all the way to the chequered flag.
Practice Session
After a short delay while marshals were still sweeping away debris from the circuit, the one and only Free Practice, this being a Sprint Race weekend, finally got underway. Both Aston Martin AMR25s headed out promptly, eager to make the most of the sole practice session. Alonso wasted no time in showing the pace of his car and intent, vaulting to the top of the timesheets on his first flying lap before the rest of the field had fully found their rhythm. With the entire grid running on the hard compound initially, it was a short-lived flourish. Fifteen minutes he returned to the garage, having slipped to P8 - Stroll continued to circulate steadily in P13. The session was frenetic from the outset, with teams compressing the normal three practice sessions into a single hour. At the halfway mark, Alonso had fallen to fifteenth and Stroll to eighteenth as long-run evaluations took precedence. Yet the final quarter of the session saw a transformation. As drivers switched to the medium compound, the green machines surged back up the order — Stroll briefly climbed to P2 and Alonso to P3, both demonstrating markedly improved balance and grip. When the chequered flag fell, Alonso had secured P4, while Stroll finished in P15. Norris set the pace for McLaren.
Sprint Qualifying
There was little time to pause before it was time for Sprint Qualifying. Both Aston Martins joined the queue immediately to get clean air before the track became congested. Alonso went third quickest on his opening run and Stroll fifth, before faster runners inevitably shuffled the order. With just minutes remaining, both AMR25s returned to the circuit for their final attempts. Alonso delivered another tidy lap to secure P3, but Stroll only finished P13 – but at least both cars progressed to the next round. In SQ2, both Aston Martins switched to medium tyres and immediately made headlines — Alonso going fastest overall, Stroll right behind in P2. It was an emphatic statement of intent and after all the drivers had posted their first sequence of lap times Alonso remained in P1 and Stroll was in P7. Content with his effort, he stayed in the garage for the final minutes while others took one more shot. His time held strong, confirming his and Stroll’s safe passage into the top 10 shoot-out. For the first time since Imola in May, both Aston Martins had reached the final stage of any Qualifying.
The final round, SQ3, was as tight as expected. With only one set of soft tyres available, Aston Martin opted for a single run apiece. Both drivers waited until the final three minutes before heading out, leaving it all to one flying lap. When the flag fell, Alonso had secured P5 and Stroll P7 — their best combined Qualifying result in months. Norris claimed pole for McLaren, but Aston Martin seemed to have regained competitiveness and there was optimism in the team heading into Saturday’s Sprint Race.
Sprint Race
The cyclone that threatened never materialised so it was an orderly line up as the grid formed for the Sprint race, with both Aston Martins starting inside the top ten and on the medium compound tyres — Alonso from his highest grid slot of the season. When the lights went out, Verstappen, on faster soft tyres, put them to use and immediately found a way past Alonso into turn 1, while Stroll also slipped back after a sluggish getaway. At the end of the opening lap, Alonso was P6, Stroll P9, with Norris at the very front. Alonso was now having to keep Leclerc at bay as he was within DRS range of the AMR25. Respite arrived for Alonso when on lap 3 Piastri lost control of his McLaren while getting too far onto wet kerbs, spun round and crashed into a barrier. This feat was quickly followed by Colapinto and Hülkenberg having the same experience from the same kerb, which required the Safety Car to be deployed. But with 3 cars stranded and debris strewn across the track, Race Control escalated the incident to a red flag after three laps and all the cars pulled into the pit lane behind the Safety Car. With two drivers completely out of the race and Hülkenberg obliged to restart at the back of the grid, Alonso would restart in fifth place and Stroll in eighth – both in the points-paying positions. The race restarted almost 20 minutes later, after a rolling restart, which spared the drivers the peril of a standing launch. Alonso was again immediately locked in combat with Verstappen, who struggled to get his tyres up to temperature, while Leclerc loomed within DRS range behind the Aston Martin. Further back, Stroll had Gasly closing in and to within DRS range, but both AM drivers were able to maintain their positions when it came to the halfway distance mark on lap 12. Ominously, the Matador was then instructed to “lift and coast” to manage tyre temperatures and wear — a frustrating but necessary call, given the pressure from the Ferrari behind. Leclerc continued to harry & threaten Alonso for 10 more laps, when eventually his defence finally faltered and Leclerc found a way through on lap 22 to claim fifth place. That then left Alonso fighting to preserve sixth spot from Hamilton’s Ferrari, while further back, Stroll succumbed to getting passed by Gasly and he dropped out of the points, to ninth. — just one place shy of a point. On the penultimate lap, Bortoleto hit the barriers which brought out yellow flags in the closing corners, freezing the order at the chequered flag. Norris took victory for McLaren ahead of Antonelli and Russell, with Alonso finishing sixth (securing 3 points) and Stroll ninth. With Alonso banking some points and Stroll just missing out, was this a sign that Aston Martin might repeat the feat for the rest of the weekend?
Qualifying
The start of Qualifying was delayed while the marshals cleared the track up from a previous racing series. Once underway, both Aston Martins were eager to continue their upward trajectory from the Sprint race. Alonso was one of the first out, keen to establish a banker lap; Stroll followed moments later and went P4 briefly. But Stroll then edged ahead by a tenth to take P4 himself. At the halfway point, after all the drivers had set initial lap times, the Aston Martin pair were sixth and seventh respectively. The field tightened up competitively during the last laps and the Aston Martins dropped down the order; Stroll ending up P8 and Alonso P12, which meant both drivers advanced to Q2. Norris topped Q1. Both Astons headed out early again for Q2 and Alonso opened his account with an impressive first fast lap which put him fourth. Stroll was a little further behind, in P8. But the times were fiercely close — just 3/10ths separating the top ten and by the time all the drivers had set their first laps Alonso was in P8 Stroll in P12. On his final run, despite pushing hard, Alonso stayed in P8, whereas Stroll was only in P14 and in the elimination zone. Nail-bitingly though, 3 cars managed to log better times than Alonso and he ended Q2 in P11, missing out on Q3 by 0.03 of a second. Norris again ended up in P1 and in pole position in Q3, after his team-mate and championship contender, Piastri had slotted into P1 provisionally.
Race
As the cars headed off for the formation lap, Aston Martin showed their hand that they would start on the hard compound tyres, meaning their intent was to go deeper into the race while the soft-tyre runners would need to pit much sooner. The formation lap passed without incident, notably unlike last year and the race start was as tense and action-packed as expected. Alonso had to take avoiding action immediately, running wide while fighting Hülkenberg and, moments later, Bortoleto spun and crashed on the opening lap, yellow flags flew, and by the time the cars streamed over the lap finish line for the first time Alonso was up to P10 and Stroll in P14. With Bortoleto’s car in an unsafe position the Safety Car was deployed and replays showed he had clipped Stroll’s right-rear tyre in the mêlée before spinning - Stroll nevertheless gaining the place just before the Safety Car signs appeared. The race restarted on lap 5, but not for long. Piastri, in P3, made contact with Antonelli going into the first turn after the restart, after locking up and smacking into Antonelli, who in turn was pushed into Leclerc’s Ferrari, causing it to lose a wheel and put Leclerc out of the race. Consequently the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was engaged. Stroll also didn’t have a good restart and was clipped by Tsunoda, spun, and ended up 17th, an incident that was noted and investigated by the Stewards – Tsunoda especially for causing a collision. Similarly, soon after the VSC ended, Sainz got past Alonso, but cleanly. The verdict on Tsunoda was then announced – he had hit the back of Stroll’s AMR25, was deemed to be not in control of his Red Bull and was given a 10 second penalty. Shortly after, Stroll gained a place when Hamilton had to come into the pits for the first time. It was then announced that Piastri was under investigation for his lock up and consequential damage causing and he was given a 10 second penalty. While this was going on, current world champion, Verstappen, had managed to haul himself up from starting in the pit lane to being right behind Alonso and looking formidable for a points finish and at the start of lap 18 Verstappen completed the manoeuvre. Eventually, those drivers that had started on soft tyres started to pit and by lap 21 Alonso was running 7th, Stroll 10th. The counter to that was that those drivers that had been in for new fresh tyres were able to sweep back past, first Stroll and then Alonso, in some cases. When young Bearman started to loom large and within a second of Alonso the team called him in on lap 29 - he rejoined in P17, but soon made up a couple of places. Stroll, by then in P10, stopped moments later and rejoined P18 – the last car on the road. He put his fresh tyres to work and passed Tsunoda on lap 33 and the Aston Martin pair gained another place each when Hamilton pitted again on lap 34, his Ferrari looking very stricken. At the halfway stage Alonso was only in P14, Stroll P16, but the duo managed to navigate past the cars that were on different pit stop and tyre change strategies so that by lap 49 Alonso was in P9 and Stroll in P13. However, once again, those drivers that had been serviced with fresh tyres started to come back at and pass the Aston Martins, so the call was made to bring Alonso in again at the end of lap 47 – this time he came out in 16th place. The offset allowed Stroll to inherit P10 once Tsunoda and Ocon pitted, with Alonso back to P15 starting another push. It wasn’t for long though - Hadjar and Gasly, both on fresher tyres, cleared Stroll on lap 53, when it was decided to bring Stroll in for his final set of fresh tyres on lap 55, rejoining in P16. During his teammates pit stop, as well as Albon’s, Alonso was able to get to P13 but then fell behind again a few laps later when the Williams driver, with the benefit of new tyres and DRS, made his move stick. With 10 laps to go Alonso was P14, Stroll P16. At the front, Verstappen, who had a meteoric rise up the grid, was hunting Antonelli for 2nd place, Piastri, having served a 10-second penalty for the incident after the restart, was chasing down Russell, for 4th. With no attrition and no late Safety Cars to compress the midfield, Alonso cruised to the finish line in P14, with Stroll following in P16. Norris won the race and Antonelli held off Verstappen for second.
It was a very puzzling afternoon for Aston Martin — how could the same cars that finished 5th and 7th in the Sprint Race the previous day have finished 9 places each lower? The comments from the two drivers afterwards were very brief. "It wasn't a good day out there today. We took a risk starting on the hard tyre and, unfortunately, it didn't pay off. To finish P14 is disappointing, especially after a strong Sprint yesterday. There weren't many opportunities with the pace we had, so we just tried to maximise what was possible” said Alonso. Likewise Stroll, “Not the most positive weekend for us at Interlagos. We looked more competitive in the Sprint and less so in Qualifying and the race today. The incident with Tsunoda ended our chances in the race: we tried to come back but just lost too much time there. The hard tyre wasn't working well for us either, but in the end it was down to a lack of car pace.” Both drivers, as do we, can only look ahead to Las Vegas and focus on finishing off the season strong in the final three races.