On Track

18 May 2025

The Debrief by Aramco: Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

The European leg of the 2025 Formula One season began at historic Imola. Get the thoughts of Lance, Fernando and the team from the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend.

Lance and Fernando finished outside of the points after the unfortunate timing of a Virtual Safety Car period at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Read on for full coverage of our weekend at Imola.

Sunday round-up and reaction

The drivers held position at lights out, with Fernando running in P5 and Lance in P8.
Both showed good pace in the early stages to keep themselves well inside the top 10 before the first set of pit stops, as the team sought to complete a one-stop strategy.
However, the unfortunate timing of a Virtual Safety Car period following Esteban Ocon's retirement, combined with competitors around us pitting for fresh tyres, meant we had a tyre deficit as we opted to stay out to avoid sacrificing track position.
Those with fresher tyres found their way past our two drivers, who battled hard to keep position as much as they could.
A late Safety Car period after Andrea Kimi Antonelli retired gave Lance and Fernando the opportunity to pit, change tyres and then try to reclaim some positions as the field bunched up.
At the chequered flag, Fernando crossed the finish line in P11, narrowly missing out on a points finish, whilst Lance classified in P15.
Despite the result, there are still some positives to take. The team saw signs of progress with our new update package applied to the AMR25 across the weekend.
And, earlier in the day, Young Driver Jak Crawford finished sixth in the F2 Feature Race.

P15

L. Stroll

FL: 1:20.501

P11

F. Alonso

FL: 1:19.894

#18 | Lance Stroll | Race

"The start of the race felt okay: I managed to pull away from Gasly and hold onto Albon in front of me.

"Unfortunately, with the Virtual Safety Car phase and the way the race unfolded, it didn't play out well for us today. Without the Virtual Safety Car, we might have been able to finish in the points so bad luck and a disappointing result.

"We now need to look to Monaco next week and see if we can continue to show signs of positive improvements with the update as it's a very different track."

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Race

"The car was very strong today and I was having a good race until the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) turned our race upside down.

"I think without this VSC we could have been fighting for P6 or P7 and scored points on merit. At the restart we were out of the points but managed to overtake three cars in nine laps and we just ran out of time. It's a real shame but let's hope for better luck in future races."

Andy Cowell | CEO & Team Principal

"We came within a whisker of scoring points, but the racing luck was not on our side today. A promising one-stop strategy was undone by the timing of the Virtual Safety Car which dropped both Fernando and Lance outside the points. With hindsight, we could have pitted again under the VSC, but we did not want to sacrifice track position. We then struggled to hold off those cars with a tyre advantage.

"Nonetheless, we take away the positives from a weekend where we have seen genuine progress. The updates have added some performance and given us direction for the upcoming events. Credit to the drivers, too, who did not put a wheel out of place this weekend. It's onwards to Monaco now which is a very different challenge."

Next up

A quick turnaround for our team as we head to Monaco for the second leg of this triple-header.

Saturday

Both cars ran our new update package after evaluation overnight following Lance using the new spec during Friday's Free Practice sessions.
Q1 of Qualifying was interrupted by two red flag periods following accidents for Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto respectively. Lance and Fernando both navigated the session well, getting themselves into Q2.
In Q2, the team used the Medium tyre to great effect, with Lance and Fernando utilising its higher level of durability compared to the Soft - Pirelli's debut-making C6 compound - to extract performance for the duration of their flying laps, ensuring safe passage into Q3.
The drivers again used the Medium tyre in Q3, eventually classifying in P5 and P8 for Sunday's Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Young Driver Jak Crawford took victory in the F2 Sprint Race.

#18 | Lance Stroll | Qualifying

"A good day for us qualifying in P8. It all came together in these conditions; we made the right tyre choice with the Medium so that paid off and the nature of the track suits our car more.

"From what we can tell so far, the update looks like it's having a positive impact so it's an improvement, but there's still lots more performance for us to unlock. Tomorrow we will have a better idea of how we look in terms of true pace and if we can hold position."

FP3

1:15.975

P13

1:15.817

1:15.497

1:15.581

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Qualifying

"Qualifying went better than we expected and it's a great result for the team to have both cars in Q3.

"We introduced a new package this weekend and so far the results have been positive. We were quite competitive on both the Medium and the Soft tyres, so we were able to try a different strategy throughout Qualifying.

"We have to keep our feet on the ground though and see how things go tomorrow in the race. I don't think we are as fast as P5, so let's see if we can keep these positions and score some points."

FP3

1:15.819

P11

1:15.695

1:15.442

1:15.431

Andy Cowell | CEO & Team Principal

"A tremendous team effort today brings us a well-deserved Qualifying result with Fernando in P5 and Lance in P8. The drivers did not put a wheel wrong with some sensational laps throughout all parts of Qualifying, making the most of a great car setup. The tyre strategy was extremely well judged, too, and that tyre preparation work started well before the event and paid off today.

"Securing our best Qualifying result of the year is a big boost for the 1,000 people in this team who have been working extremely hard to make improvements in all areas – not least with the updates we introduced here in Imola. We know how important Qualifying is at this track because overtaking is very difficult, however it's the race result that yields championship points."

Friday

The team brought updates to Imola which are bodywork and floor related. Only Sauber and Williams decided against bringing updates to the circuit.
The team opted to run Lance's car with the updates fitted and Fernando's without, allowing for cross-car evaluation and comparison of performance between the new and old specs.
The team analysed the data from the two cars to decide which new parts to fit on both for Saturday's running.
Following heavy rain overnight, the weather was dry and consistent over the course of the two Free Practice sessions, providing ideal conditions in which to test our updates. The weather is expected to remain the same for the rest of the weekend.
The team also had the chance to run Pirelli's new C6 tyre for the first time in 2025. The softest compound in their range for this season.

#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice

"We brought some new parts here so today was about learning what we could. We now need to look at the data from today and see what we can do overnight to improve the car setup and we go again tomorrow."

FP1

1:17.032

P11

FP2

1:16.341

P17

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice

"Today was all about understanding our new package as Lance had the new updates fitted. I tried to be consistent and give feedback on the previous spec car, so we will look tonight and try to figure out what the best parts are going forward. Traffic management is very tricky around this circuit and hopefully we can get it right tomorrow in Qualifying."

FP1

1:17.121

P14

FP2

1:16.220

P14