Alonso finds pace in Singapore — and Button spots the steering trick behind it
Fernando Alonso isn’t just quick around Marina Bay; he’s doing it with a very deliberate tweak to the way his Aston Martin AMR25 steers.
The two-time champion lit up FP1 at the Singapore Grand Prix, then kept himself planted in the mix through a stop‑start FP2. That much fits the pattern: when the downforce ramps up and the walls close in, Alonso and Aston Martin tend to look comfortable. But there’s a twist this weekend, and Jenson Button was the first to call it.
On Sky Sports F1, Button pointed out that Alonso appears to be running a slower steering rack — a different ratio that requires more steering input for the same change of direction. In plain terms: more arm movement, more visible lock, calmer responses.
“He’s got a lot of steering angle in the car,” Button observed, noting Alonso was even crossing his arms in some corners. It’s a choice that makes plenty of sense at a street track. A slower rack softens the car’s reactions around that nervous, initial turn-in phase, letting a driver lean on the front without the rear snapping awake at the slightest twitch. You give up a bit of immediacy, gain a smoother platform through the slow and medium-speed stuff, and, if you’re Alonso, you manage the trade-off with all the economy of a 20-year veteran.
There’s a physical angle, too. Higher steering ratios lower the effort per degree of lock, which can help over a long, humid, energy-sapping night race like Singapore. The catch? You need to put in more input overall — which is why the onboard shots show elbows and wrists working overtime — and you risk “crossing up” and limiting how much corrective lock you’ve got left if something steps out. That’s the line Button was hinting at. It’s a fine balance, and not everyone is comfortable living there.
Alonso clearly is. He’s always liked a car he can feel load up progressively, and the AMR25 seems to reward that at the high-downforce venues. Around Marina Bay’s endless 90-degree corners and traction zones, dialing the rack towards the “slower” end buys him that little pocket of control on entry and the ability to place the car precisely over the bumps and manhole covers. Less spiky, more repeatable. It looks old-school because it is — and because it works.
Street circuits are a game of margins and fatigue. Singapore amplifies both. The temperature cooks, the humidity clings, the walls stare you down, and the asphalt never stops moving. Anything that makes the car more predictable and the workload more manageable is worth lap time by the end of a stint. It’s not the headline upgrade Aston Martin brought; it’s a setup choice. But on this track, with this driver, it can be the difference between clinging on and controlling the session.
None of this guarantees Saturday glory. As always in Singapore, qualifying will swing on track evolution, yellow flags and who dares hug the walls the longest. But Alonso’s pace on Friday didn’t look like a flash. It looked like intent, delivered with a steering wheel turned a little further than usual — by design.
If you wanted a snapshot of how the greats stay great, this is it: a microscopic change, a big payoff, and a driver who still relishes the craft as much as the speed.
