Many different things, but no revolution. Aston Martin Racing took inspiration from the 2023 vintage, which saw it do excellent things for half the season and lose itself for much of the following half, with the specific intent of repeating the good things done in the first 9 grands prix and not repeating the mistakes made in subsequent ones.
This morning the Silverstone team presented the AMR24, a single-seater that will have to continue the growth of a team that continues to be very ambitious, but not unscrupulous. The investments by Lawrence Stroll's consortium are high, even more so, but before harvesting you have to sow well, take care of the soil and know how to wait.
This is why from the words of technical director Dan Fallows it is possible to understand the mantra adopted by the British team for 2024: no upheavals, but targeted evolutions to repeat a great start to the season and, above all, have the right basis for development, which can work until December and not get stuck right at the best moment.
“We want to make sure we have a good development platform and that's where we put the most focus on.” Fallows said in a briefing with selected media, including Motorsport.com.
“I think we managed to achieve all this. So it was a good winter for us. Based on the way we thought about the preparation of the AMR24, already trying things last season, our objective will probably be to start very well, but thanks to the wider possibility of developing the single-seater, our aim is to grow over the course of the season thanks to the updates.”
Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Aston Martin AMR24
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Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
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Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
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Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
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Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
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Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
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Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin Racing
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Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin Racing
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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
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Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team
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Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team
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Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team
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Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team
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Photo credit: Aston Martin Racing
Fallows then went into more detail regarding the interventions made on the AMR24. A super evolution of version 23 in form, but the concepts have been pushed further to the limit to continue progressing.
“We then made changes to the whole car. It is very different in many ways: most of the components have changed. But it is still essentially a strong evolution of last year's car. So, we built the end of the AMR23. The most obvious things you'll see are different, like the nose and the front wing. The bodywork will be different. But there's also a lot of stuff under the hood, which we hope you won't see!”
“Obviously we will try to keep some of these things under wraps. The front suspension layout, which I think is what you are referring to, is similar to what we had on the AMR23, so still a push-rod. We inherited the new (rear) suspension from Mercedes. They provided us with the gearbox and the rear suspension structure, so this has also changed slightly compared to last year. So, there is a change at the rear, but at the front it is very similar.”
Since 2022, the year the new technical regulation was introduced, there has been a convergence in the ideas and solutions adopted by the teams. A natural thing considering the design restrictions that are imposed in current Formula 1. But for Fallows, this aspect does not necessarily harm the creation of the single-seaters and the possibility of reducing – if not eliminating – the gap from the best.
Watch: F1 Videos | Introducing Aston Martin: the AMR24
“When you have a team that is doing as well as Red Bull from 2022, it is inevitable that there is some sort of convergence on their solutions. I think that with the current regulations it is not particularly easy to have visually very different cars. It is inevitable, therefore , that we are seeing some convergence. I think the most interesting thing is the convergence of lap times that we have seen.”
“The teams are getting very close and I think that suggests they're probably less capable of making a big conceptual step than the kind of things we're seeing on most cars. But that doesn't take away from the interest of the thing.”
“The fact is that we are now really busy finding lap times from details that are really small. These are more detailed elements of the floor and other parts of the car. But there is still a lot to do and we think that Red Bull is absolutely beatable. That's what we're chasing, we're focusing on them. And that's our goal.”
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