Aston Martin is one of the teams to have started the new technical cycle of Formula 1 with greater difficulty. ” unpredictability introduced by the single free practice session of the Sprint Race format. For several weeks in the paddock the voices of a car being studied in the wind tunnel at Silverstone have been chasing each other, radically different from the one seen in action so far on the track. The images collected from the Barcelona pit lane on the Thursday preceding the Spanish Grand Prix confirmed the rumors of an AMR22 drastically revised in the philosophy of bellies.
The new sidepods of the British car represent a distortion of the previous philosophy. The bellies of the AMR22 in Barcelona strongly recall the configuration developed by Red Bull, with a body sloping downwards, channeling the flows from the top of the car towards the rear, exploiting its adhesion to the surfaces, so as to encourage the extraction of air from the diffuser and load generation. Silverstone technicians therefore reject the previous philosophy more similar to Alfa Romeo, with the bodywork that was raised to free a channel in the lower part with which to convey air in the lower part towards the rear of the car. In the new specification, however, the sidepods remain wide for their entire extension in height, approaching the outer edge of the bottom compared to the previous version. The objective is to accelerate the flows near the extremity of the bottom, so as to also favor the extraction of lateral air from the underbody to improve the generation of load in the center of the car.
The “bare” Aston Martin in the pits betrays an arrangement of the side radiator package that is strongly inclined downwards, an essential change for the implementation of the new sloping bellies. The previous philosophy with raised sidepods in fact presupposed the lifting of the side radiators in a semi-horizontal position, a position revised in the version brought to the track in Barcelona.
The new Aston Martin sidepods recall those present on the Red Bull both in the general setting and in the details, such as the tapering behind the radiator outlets. However, it is surprising how the previous aerodynamic concept of raised bellies has shown that it can work effectively on Alfa Romeo, which instead continues its refinement, while at Aston Martin they have preferred to radically change direction. A similar divergence demonstrates how the same philosophy applied to two single-seaters that differ in aerodynamics, set-up and suspension (push-rod at the rear for Alfa Romeo versus the pull-rod of Aston Martin) can give rise to conflicting results.
The new bellies of the AMR22 will not be the only novelty aboard the British car in Barcelona. In fact, a new rear wing with a wavy main profile was seen in the pits, replacing the previous straight-line specification. The debut of the new aileron on a high-load track suggests that it can be used on numerous occasions throughout the season.
The updates brought by Aston Martin to Barcelona represent a drastic change in the aerodynamic philosophy of the top of the car. For the Silverstone technicians the most difficult challenge now begins: being able to get the new package to work on a car conceived with a different approach. The challenge to get back to the center of the group is difficult, but the technical department has undoubtedly done its best to hit the target.
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