Aston Martin presented to the world the AMR22, the single-seater available to Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll for the first season of the new technical regulations. As remarked by Lawrence Stroll in several passages during his opening speech, the team is in the second year of a five-year plan to reach the top of Formula 1, a climb to which the new car will try to make its own contribution. The AMR22 provides technical ideas in abundanceallowing to appreciate one of the possible interpretative philosophies of the new technical cycle, while waiting to evaluate the technical choices of the competition.
Contrary to what Red Bull showed, the single-seater presented by Aston Martin does not coincide with the standard model made by the FIA, from which on the contrary it immediately distances itself in various areas, starting with the positioning of the side air intakes. The radiator outlets are in fact particularly advanced and close to the front axle, thus being able, with the same pitch being the latter limited by the regulation, to extend the sidepods to fairing the bellies. The components of the cooling system are distributed more in length than in the 2021 car, taking advantage of the two large grilles on the bonnet for the evacuation of hot air. Contrary to the previous cars of the British team and to what has been seen in the renderings published by Haas, the bellies no longer have a sloping trend towards the rear, with which we tried to exploit the adhesion of the flow to the surfaces to increase the air flow in the lower area towards the diffuser. On the contrary, the sidepods of the AMR22 maintain their height for almost their entire length, resulting in a particularly high tail, thus allowing two technical concepts to be developed. First of all, a real additional channel is outlined below the cooling intakes, delimited at the bottom by the upper surface of the bottom, conveying the flows towards the rear environment from the center of the car, without waiting for the sidepods to descend. as before. From the front view it can be seen just how the bellies are extremely flared downwards, opening a free section for the passage of air outside the sides. In parallel, the raising of the sidepods in the terminal part allows a more effective exploitation of the long cooling grids placed on the bonnet, thus being able to reduce the outlet in the queue for the evacuation of hot air.
From the aerial view it can be appreciated how, at least in this first version, the bodywork of the AMR22 is even more streamlined in the gearbox area than in the past, thanks to the greater flow of internal air evacuated by the grilles, to the advantage of freedom for the aerodynamics in the rear. . The tail, however, is preceded by the bellies thatin addition to staying tall for most of their extension, they maintain a rounded outline even at the rear before closing suddenly in the terminal part, helping to exploit the maximum possible extension of the cooling grids. A similar trend is in strong contrast with the tendency in the previous technical cycle to streamline the sides at the rear, a choice apparently retained by Haas based on what was seen in the renderings of the VF22.
The top view provides two further points of interest. The entrance section of the lateral Venturi channel is preceded by an external bulkhead, which by extending forward helps to remove the turbulence generated by the front wheel from the underbody, a constructive element that will also be present on other single-seaters. Moving your gaze to the hood area, the bulge already present in the past season stands out again, necessary to accommodate the plenum of the Mercedes engine. However, the curvature appears more pronounced than in 2021, suggesting a further evolution of the suction system of the Brixworth power unit and / or a repositioning in the bellies of part of the radiant masses previously housed in a central position, so that the bodywork is now even more adherent to the plenum.
In addition to the raised tail, another highlight of the AMR22 is the unusual shape of the air intakes of the side radiators. The particular squared outline is accompanied by the reduced dimensions, like what is seen in the renderings of the Haas VF22, also possible thanks to the rear cooling grille that encourages the passage of air through the internal components. The upper side impact structure was also kept below the radiator outlets, despite the raising of the minimum height of about 60 mm. The fairing of the air intakes, on the other hand, is shaped with a marked drift towards the outside, exploiting the bodywork to remove harmful turbulence coming from the wheels from the center of the car.
The flat nose emerges at the front and stops on the second profile of the wing, thus leaving the gap between the first two flaps free, useful for blowing air into the underbody towards the bottom. Of greater interest, however, is the configuration of the suspension, which it maintains the push-rod scheme seen in recent years. The steering arm is raised in comparison with the FIA model, aligning with the upper triangle to reduce aerodynamic disturbance. The choice of attachment points to the frame of the upper arms differs from the guidelines of recent seasons. While previously the teams tended to raise the triangles as much as possible, which reached the upper end of the frame to free up a larger free section at the bottom, on the AMR22 there is a fair residual margin between the height of the upper arms and that of the body. It is difficult to identify the main motivation behind such a choice, although some links with aerodynamics and dynamics emerge. The upper triangle of the suspension is in fact inclined downwards going from the wheel unit to the frame, a downward trend that may have been sought in favor of the downwash, that is, to direct the flows near the car body downwards towards the Venturi channels to encourage load generation. On the kinematic front, on the other hand, one can appreciate how the triangles converge towards the center of the car, with the AMR22 showing a marked trapezoid geometry of the suspension. It outlines a kinematics that facilitates the recovery of camber and therefore the alignment of the tire with the ground when cornering, maximizing the footprint of contact with the ground to the advantage of the performance of the tires, with repercussions also on the height of the roll center and on the stabilization. of the aerodynamic platform under the thrust of lateral accelerations, which, however, cannot be judged without further supporting data.
At the rear, the pull-rod architecture has been maintained, while we expect sharper images and from better angles to better appreciate the arrangement of the arms. In spite of the different structure of the rear of the 2022 single-seaters, from the graphic material released the impression that emerges is that the lower triangle has been kept in the rear position, a choice that recalls the geometry of the suspension shared with Mercedes in 2021 which optimized the effectiveness of extraction of the diffuser. However, it is advisable to wait for the photographs from the track to evaluate the new suspension group, again in common with the Silver Arrows, both because of the scarce eloquence of the images released and for the possibility that what is visible has actually been graphically altered for hide the real architecture. Similarly, the external aerodynamics will also be assessable only starting from the Barcelona tests, although the two-element beam-wing and the double support for the rear wing emerge from the presentation, of which the mobile profile operated by the DRS is considerably smaller. than the main one.
Overall, in the only possible comparison with the Haas VF22 renders, the AMR22 stands out on several fronts. The much discussed pull-rod scheme has not been embraced at the front, but the front suspension still has some characteristics that it will be appropriate to check on other single-seaters. The wide bellies, the sidepods without a sloping trend and the raised tail are other distinctive features of the Aston Martin in the 2022 version, which also increases curiosity about the shapes of the new Mercedes power unit. The hope is that the next presentations can offer a wide variety of solutions and lead to a structural as well as chromatic differentiation on the grid for the next World Cup.
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