“To those who don’t believe in Aston Martin I would say that…”

On December 14, at the presentation of Informe + de Alex Paloutitled the 500 Miles by Àlex Palou (available on the Movistar + platform), Pedro de la Rosa arrived to join the Catalan pilot on stage. He is already doing so as the team’s newly appointed new ambassador aston martin f1week after going to Abu Dhabi to live in the first person the first kilometer of Fernando Alonso at the wheel of a green car from last season in testing Pirelli what he did Pedro spoke at length with MD about his feelings before the start of a project that he described as “exciting”, but in which he emphasized that “it is important to understand that you need time” to develop.

Aston Martin This is at the beginning of its great project to create a champion team, as Mercedes or Red Bull did in their time. those of Milton Keynes they started in F1 in 2005 after buying Jaguar and didn’t win their first title until 5 years later, in 2010 with Sebastian Vettel, the first of his four consecutive titles. And actually, red bull This is the dominant team, one of the biggest in F1. Another example is Mercedes. The stars earned Brown GP in 2010 (former Honda structure) and their period of dominance did not begin until 2014, achieving the title in their fifth year. Today, it is one of the biggest groups in current F1. Starting from that base, considering its owner’s multi-million dollar resources, Lawrence Take a Walkthe question is clear: Why can’t Aston Martin repeat the success of Mercedes or Red Bull?

“There are people who don’t believe in Aston Martin because they say it’s still the old Force India or what Jordan is. What do you say to those people?” MD asked Pedro de la Rosa. Catalan is clear.

“I would invite all these people to come to Silverstone Circuit. When you enter the circuit, you turn right, and you see the whole new Aston Martin factory. It’s amazing. When I went in December, I came at night and everything was lit up, they were working at night … and it was amazing. So, people who say things like that to me… they say to me: ‘What is this?’ I tell them I prefer not to talk much and that A picture is worth a thousand wordsthat when they go to the British Grand Prix, a lot of people go, The best thing is that they see it with their own eyes”he declared.

New factories, wind tunnels and new minds

Aston Martin is the structure that used to be Racing Point, used to be Force India, or used to be Jordan’s team. In fact, the current factory where the green team works is the one Jordan first used in 1991, and he has some of his employees working in temporary facilities right next door. He also doesn’t have his own wind tunnel and to build his cars he has to use the Mercedes (his biker) wind tunnel in Brackley. All this will change. Lawrence Stroll wants to create a leading team and for this, the creation of a large factory right next to the current one and a new own wind tunnel is underway. A larger factory was created, designed to improve communication between all departments and increase productivity, something the new headquarters It will have a design department in an open-plan office.

The new headquarters will have 3 contiguous buildings with a total extension 37,000 square meters. Within building 1 there will be design, manufacturing and marketing departments (completion period: first quarter of 2023). Within building 2 there will be a new wind tunnel, where they hope to start working on their cars in 2024. And on building 3 it is a remodeling of the existing factory to locate a gym and facilities to increase the comfort of the employees. That means Aston Martin is in the middle of building something big. A house of a large set.

That’s not all. Aston Martin has also been growing since Stroll’s arrival in terms of human assets with the recruitment of many thinking minds. coming from major F1 teams like Red Bull. Dozens of them. A clear example is the hiring of highly respected engineers such as Dan Fallows, former head of aerodynamics at Red Bull, or Eric Blandin, responsible for aerodynamics at Mercedes. For example, when Aston Martin introduced a sidepod design similar to last year’s Red Bull, the team’s energy drink advisor, Helmut Marko, recalled the great engineering leak that occurred at Aston Martin.

The ingredients to have a group at the level of the best are on the table, but for the recipe to be ready to reach the goals that everyone has in mind, a lot of time is needed. Pedro de la Rosa talked to MD about it.

“We have to make it give time for Alonso

“The idea of ​​Aston Martin is to create a very strong team, but I also think that our duty is that people understand that it takes time and time will be our main ‘disability’. We are in a race against time at the manufacturing level of a work structure… a factory, wind tunnel, simulator… everything is new. It takes time. That is our main limiter or our main rival. How quickly can we build this structure to full capacity to make the best car? For this the team works day and night. And when I say night it is literal,” said the former F1 driver.

In this sense, with Fernando Alonso at 41 years old, with the desire to continue at the highest level at least “for two or three more years”, that is the time in which Aston Martin begins to fight on the clock to give Oviedo the car you need to fight for the title again. “Will the Aston Martin arrive in time for Fernando to have a winning car?” we asked Pedro. “We have to give him time. We have to do it. It is a fight against time. We’re all in the same boat and… it’s very exciting. But I am aware of the company or the mountain that is so high that we have to climb”.

” Aston Martin has grown stronger and the team is growing. But also, everything is done with a lot of common sense. We have a great team”he added.

“I think we all have goals that we don’t want to say, but we’re all here for a reason. We’re here, personally, because nothing would make me happier than seeing Fernando Alonso win again”, pointed out about an Alonso he referred to as “an uncle who is tireless” already “we cannot fail him”. About Asturian Pedro assured that he saw Fernando “more motivated than before.”

Regulations and the possibility of approaching large

To understand the options Aston Martin needs to make up ground with regards to the big teams, it is important to remember that the current regulations were created so that, over time, the teams would match their performance over time.

“There are very important things happening in F1. There is a budget limit that is equal to all the teams (everyone can spend the same money), and then there is another fundamental and revolutionary issue: that the different limits was established for the use of the wind tunnel. according to your position in the Constructors’ World Championship last year. And this is not a minor issue. When building a car the use of the wind tunnel is limited economically and in time. .. well, the results will be seen later Also, the design of the cars will come together, because everyone has learned from the first year and the cars will be more similar. But it is important to understand that the teams with best The results have less tunnel air time, and those behind the Constructors, have to take advantage of this”, recalls De la Rosa.

Aston Martin, 7th among Manufacturers in 2022, will have more wind tunnel time and CFD simulations than the best 2022 teams, while also having slightly more time than midfield rivals such as Alpine, which -4, or McLaren, which is 5th. . This, together with the maintenance of the current regulations, which are more restricted in many points than the previous rule books, suggests that the teams have to balance their forces over the years. That’s what Aston Martin stands for.