Before F1 cars start measuring themselves against the clock in pre-season tests of Bahrain (February 21 to 23), this week the heavyweights of the ‘Great Circus’ reveal their weapons. The first, Aston Martin, which today presented its new car, the AMR24, in which Fernando Alonso (and his partner Lance Stroll) wants to take another step forward to get closer to the top.
The Asturian, in a previous press conference where MD was present with about 60 international media, kept his feet on the ground, remembering how much the grid is equal and that until the cars are measured on the test asphalt and first dates , it is impossible to know where everyone is.
Of course, both the Team Principal of the team, Mike Krack, as well as the technical director and great brain of this car, Dan Fallows, as well as Fernando Alonso himself, are confident that they took advantage of the great learning last year to take “a step forward” with the AMR24.
Lots of news
“I would say that the AMR24 is a great evolution of last year’s car and looks quite different, with a lot of new parts that give us a solid platform for development. The different things you can see are the nose and the front wing. The chassis is also new,” Fallows argued in a press conference.
In addition, it should be noted that Aston Martin has carried out a review of the sidepods and bodywork to improve airflow management around the ground and behind the wing.
“The front suspension is similar in its construction, it’s still ‘push-rod’, and we have a new rear suspension from Mercedes because we use their gearbox (and engine) and that marks the structure of the rear suspension. There are changes in the rear suspension but the front one is very similar,” added the engineer, who came to Aston Martin after being number 2 at Red Bull for F1 guru Adrian Newey.
And of course, the most important thing is in what is invisible: the floor of the car, the area that contributes the most aerodynamic load in current cars.
“The ground is the biggest area of downforce development in an F1 car and continues to improve. Getting it right is crucial to our success in 2024”Fallows recalls.
Clear goals in creating the car
All of these were created with clear goals: The first, improve straight line speed. the second, improve fast cornering performance. the third, maintain last year’s strength. The fourth, make the performance of the car more consistent on more types of tracks. Furthermore, lay the perfect foundation so that the team does not stop the evolution of the car throughout the year. All this Fernando Alonso certainly asked the team last year. In the factory they worked towards that goal and enjoyed the fruits of their hard work.
“Let’s see where we are. The car has been improved a bit in all areas. In terms of (wind) resistance, the car has improved a bit on the straights, which was a weak point last year. Even in fast corners, we were not very competitive last year, this year we seem to be better. And we have to keep the little bit of strength that we have in 2023, which is traction, tire care, there are things that hopefully we haven’t lost in this car and we can be strong. But hey, the job is done and until we compare it to others you won’t know if it’s good enough,” said Fernando Alonso.
“Another aspect we are focusing on is expanding the car’s headroom. We are focusing on more usability for a wider range of circuit-specific characteristics. We want a race car that is more versatile.
“We are proud to debut the AMR24. Almost every aspect of the car has been refined and improved, taking advantage of our strengths and taking advantage of the lessons of the previous campaign. 2023 is our best season to date and our goal this season scoring points with consistency, podium and fighting for our first victory on the green,” said Mike Krack.
They didn’t expect another ‘miracle’
Of course, although Dan Fallows did not rule out a few months ago that the 2024 car could surprise with a leap as big as its predecessor made last year, Fernando Alonso made it clear that this AMR24 does not represent an improvement of 1.2 seconds as in 2023.
“In that case, I won’t be here anymore. “I was going to have a beer with the team.”laughed the Oviedo native in a press conference.
It should be remembered that Aston Martin finished the year behind Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari (and Red Bull, far ahead). This meant that Aston Martin started at a disadvantage by gaining more time from its rivals. “I don’t think we have closed those distances”Fernando admitted.
“What we did last year to win by a second or more from one car to another, that was once in a lifetime, I think. Now it will be a few tenths from year to year and I don’t know if those tenths will be enough to fill the gap.distance they already had last year. We have to earn those tithes we got last year plus the normal ones we get in a winter. And I don’t know if we’ve reached that point. But the season is going to be long.”
“It’s not just the first race and how we start and the performance we see in Bahrain, but it will be a bunch of improvements. Last year we saw that in Abu Dhabi the whole grid was a few tenths of nothing one more second and it means that this year everything will be very tight. So apart from the first race, the team that brings one or two tenths in every two races will have a huge advantage because it will make giant leaps in terms of grid positions..
Again, developments throughout the year will be important.
A car with more options to evolve
Last year, the Asturian’s first year in the team Silverstonethe team set its sights on the first car built by Dan Fallows to lay the foundations for the car and adapt it to the new regulations that in 2022 they did not understand well in their first failed concept. They want a competitive vehicle that keeps growing. And they did it. They hit the head and made a surprising and unexpected leap, starting the course with the second best car behind. red bullwhich allowed Fernando to regularly reach the podiums from the start, with 5 podiums in the first 6 events (8 podiums in total for the year).
then, Ferrari and Mercedes They further developed their vehicles and equipment Silverstone stagnated in its evolution, a weak point that they want to improve for this year with the main aspects of the concept car. In that sense, Dan Fallows made it clear that, after a lot of learning that they added last year to their evolutionary stagnation, finding a good path in the end, one of their priorities this year is to create a 2024 car with a base that will provide allow them to have a good margin of development.
“We are happy with the step we took last year, but throughout the year we have developed things that are relevant for this year a little late. Our main goal is to make absolutely sure that this car will be a good base to make evolutions during the season. We want to be as competitive as possible with the evolution of the car in the new season. We’re very focused on it and we want solid bases to continue to evolve the car and as evolutions come, so does the performance.”Fallows added.
We believe AMR24 offers the perfect platform for in-season development and sustained challenge throughout.”featured Dan, considering that all the current cars have a lot of room for improvement through the development of details and that for the same reason “Red Bull will lose.”
“All the experiments and things that happened last year were sometimes difficult lessons, because we took some points or we had to start from the pit lane and a series of things that were not the best, but even they are hard lessons, these are lessons learned that we put into the 2024 car,” Fernando concluded when asked by MD.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
