Aston Martin bring first major upgrade package of 2025 to Imola as they seek turnaround in form

Aston Martin have brought their first major upgrade package of the season to Imola for this weekend's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, as the Silverstone-based team battle to get their season back on track.

They are one of several teams expected to debut new packages, as is tradition at the first European race of the season.

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Lawrence Stroll's squad sit seventh in the Team's Championship – and have failed to score in any of the last four Grands Prix (thought Lance Stroll did take points in the Miami Sprint).

Aston Martin have brought a new floor and top bodywork to Imola, in the hope it will deliver more downforce and greater consistency to allow Stroll and Fernando Alonso to fight for points.

While the upgrade package was developed in the old wind tunnel, it has benefited from refinement in the new wind tunnel.

If it delivers the anticipated performance step, it will buck a trend of disappointing update packages over the last 18 months.

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The plan is for Stroll to run the new parts across Friday's two one-hour practice sessions - with Alonso running the Miami-spec so the team can do a back-to-back test.

Aston Martin will then determine overnight which parts to run on both cars for the remainder of the weekend.

"We will run one car with the new spec and the other car with the existing spec at the start of the event and make a cross-car evaluation," said boss Andy Cowell.

"It's beneficial to run two cars with different specs so we get a direct comparison with identical track conditions."

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Alonso, who is still searching for his first points of the season, added: "It's definitely good news. Race seven of the championship is going to be our first upgrade to the car and we are always optimistic when something is coming from the factory.

"Tomorrow, we will dedicate free practices to the package and try and understand the strengths and go with the best car for Saturday."

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