Aston Martin have begun the 2025 Formula 1 season in the same way 2024 ended, with the team struggling in the midfield and finding it difficult to solve problems with the car.
The Silverstone-based outfit sits seventh in the constructor standings, with Lance Stroll picking up 10 points across the opening two races. Fernando Alonso has yet to finish above P11, and neither he nor his teammate has registered points across the recent tripleheader.
Alonso and Stroll have both sounded pretty disheartened by the AMR25, with few ideas of where it can be improved or any glimmers of hope with what they have.
Unless something turns around soon, it looks as if the 2025 season may already be lost. While this would be devastating for most teams on the grid, there are plenty of reasons why Aston Martin may be better served writing this campaign off and focusing their energy on 2026.
Why Aston Martin should go all-in next year
The most obvious reason has been the recent arrival of legendary designer Adrian Newey after his nearly 20-year relationship with Red Bull. Newey is busy working away on designing Aston Martin's 2026 car and is not said to be involved with the 2025 car in any capacity.
Lawrence Stroll paid a lot of money to bring Newey from Milton Keynes to Silverstone and expects the team to take a significant leap forward with him as technical director. If the team is to take full advantage of having Newey on board, then putting all resources into the 2026 car could make a significant difference.
That's doubly important with Aston Martin changing over to Honda as their engine supplier, with whom Newey has had plenty of success over the past few years with Red Bull.
As well as the new staff and partners that will play a key role in 2026, Aston Martin recently started working with a brand-new wind tunnel. It has reportedly opened the team's eyes to some of the issues with the 2025 car already.
With this new, highly important piece of equipment potentially crucial in the development of Aston Martin's 2026 car, which will be significantly different in size and shape to the current era of cars, having more time to use it would be a huge benefit.
That's something that could happen if the team find themselves sitting toward the bottom of the standings in 2025. Wind tunnel time is allocated based on the final constructor standings, with the bottom teams allowed hundreds of hours more compared to those toward the top.
For example, in 2024, Red Bull had just 840 hours of wind tunnel allowance compared to 1,380 for Haas. This kind of difference could have a big impact on a team's development throughout the year, something that Aston Martin have struggled with in recent seasons.
The team's need to develop a genuinely competitive car for the new regulations is best exemplified by the ongoing rumors that Aston Martin is seriously pushing to land four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen to Aston Martin?
Verstappen is the best driver in the world right now and would be the top driver for any team in Formula 1. For Aston Martin, he would help take the team beyond what they are capable of right now, even with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso still around.
The Dutchman has shown a strong ability to outperform effectively any car he is in and get results that should realistically be off the cards in certain races. To have that kind of potential, coinciding with a reunion with Newey, would be an upgrade any team would dream of.
But Verstappen is currently settled at the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull and isn't likely to leave, unless his own team's new power unit lags behind the competition and others far outpace them.
With Honda, which have already stated a desire to work with Verstappen again in the future, leaving Red Bull for Aston Martin in 2026, there's a genuine chance for the stars to align in a way that persuades him that making the short move along the A5 is the best for his future.
Verstappen isn't likely to leave before seeing how 2026 plays out, so if Aston Martin are genuinely serious about bringing him on board, then performances right at the start of the new regulations must show enough potential for him to be interested in the project.
There's little the team can earn from putting in much effort to develop this year's car, beyond showing Alonso and Stroll respect as drivers, but there is so much the team could gain by simply accepting this year is already over and that 2026 is where all energy and focus should be placed.
The financial benefits of finishing higher in the constructor standings, one of the key reasons teams in the midfield desperately fight beyond simple reputation, are almost insignificant considering the vast wealth of Aston Martin's owner.
If reports of the £226 million offer Aston Martin have on the table for Verstappen are real, then it shows that the tens of millions in difference between the bottom teams' standings make no difference.
Aston Martin want to win the championship, and they want the very best driver on the grid, so if they want to be taken seriously, then 2026 is the goal.