The Miami weekend was certainly one of the most complicated for Aston Martin, with a Sprint Race closed without points – due to the accident at the start for Fernando Alonso, which was also a cause for discussion – and a race where the fight was more with the rest of the midfield than with the top teams who are gradually ‘running away’.
At Suzuka, the AMR24 was equipped with the first important innovations, while at Miami, a low-load package made its debut, which will be followed by big innovations at Imola.
“The European season will begin in Italy, and therefore, I think that all the teams will bring some innovations.”
Team Principal Mike Krack commented at the press conference at the end of last week’s GP.
IN MIAMI, THE PROBLEMS WERE TRACK GRIP AND TYRE OVERHEATING
The track that extends around the Hard Rock Stadium was more treacherous than expected. Compared to past editions, it offered less grip, and the high temperatures made it difficult to manage the softer compound, especially on the qualifying lap.
We saw how McLaren – the fastest car on the grid in America – suffered a lot with the Soft and then expressed its full potential with the Medium and Hard. Aston Martin also paid a little for the use of the soft compound.
“With the Medium tyre, we were competitive in Q2, but the C4 is very delicate. The track doesn’t offer many sections where the tyre can breathe. It gets really hot in sections 4 to 8 and 11 to 16, and it’s just difficult to manage,” explained Aston Martin’s Performance Director, Tom McCullough.
The problem was, therefore, not the turning on of the tyres – and in fact, we also saw one of the best qualifying Ferraris of the season for this reason – but managing the temperatures throughout the lap on a track where the set-up is not so simple to find.
“You want a good front to have a lot of rotation, but then you also want stability at the rear. In the end, we chose two slightly different setups for the riders.”
The changes, however, did not provide brilliant responses, with Lance Stroll narrowly missing out on Q3 while Fernando Alonso struggled throughout the weekend.
Qualifying then effectively conditioned the race, as explained by Team Principal Mike Krack.
“Track position was very important on a circuit like this, where there was also little degradation and many DRS trains.
“After qualifying, Alonso had already made us understand that it would be difficult, especially if we fought with Alpine and Williams, which he indicated to us as very difficult cars to overtake, having been behind them during Qualifying.”
All in all, the Spaniard managed to recover some positions and gain some points in the race, but the strategy initially set by Aston Martin did not work as expected, and the release of the Safety Car was providential for them.
“The original plan was to go along with the Hard, but from the first lap, Alonso felt some vibrations, and so the Safety Car was a help for us.
“Unfortunately, the strategy didn’t work as we wanted, but I think that even without problems, we couldn’t have done much more; overtaking was simply difficult,” explained the Team Principal.
The problems began after a fight with Gasly in the very early stages, and within the team, there were also fears of greater damage as the stint lengthened. “To score more points you need a better result in qualifying” commented Krack.
DESPITE THE DEVELOPMENTS, ASTON MARTIN HAS LOST GROUND WITH THE TOP TEAMS, BUT THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS WITH THE UPDATES.
In the economy of the first six races, Aston Martin was one of the most active teams in bringing innovations to its single-seater. A relevant package arrived at Suzuka, and a more specific one for low-load circuits was introduced at Miami.
Other important news will arrive at Imola, with the intention of not losing the drive of the top teams. In fact, in Miami, the AMR24 was closer to the teams chasing it than to those in front.
“Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Haas and we were very close, and the smallest thing can make the difference.
“Here (in Miami), C3 and C4 also proved to be compounds with a smaller difference than last year and with a more peaky behaviour, and there was little time to test given the format,” explained Tom McCullough.
Since the beginning of the season, the AMR24 has shown similarities with the SF-23: very competitive in qualifying, more difficult in the race.
In Miami, there was the opposite feeling, and the team principal expressed his opinion on this by stating that “the car improved in the race, thanks to the innovations and understanding of the car.
“But perhaps this made us lose a bit of performance in Qualifying, even with the changes we made after the Sprint Race.”
Over the weekend, an AMR24 with little degradation was also highlighted, but Krack himself underlined how the natural track is not very harsh on the tyres even if “normally in traffic, we lose more time than what happened today”.
Other updates will arrive at Imola for the AMR24, which needs help to try to keep up with the teams in front but also to avoid the approach of rapidly growing teams, such as Alpine and Racing Bulls, as well as Haas, which remains a difficult customer.
At Silverstone, for the moment, everything seems to be going well, with Tom McCullough confirming that the developments introduced so far have brought what they expected, confirming a good correlation.
In Miami, however, after experimenting with it, it was decided not to use the new low-load wing, but Mike Krack explained that it was only a choice made for the behaviour of the car on the track and not due to a lack of correlation.
“No problems on the simulator. On the track, there was little grip, and there was a lot of slipping therefore it was necessary to have more load compared to an improved top speed.
“We discussed this for a long time and then made this decision, but if we did the weekend all over again, we would probably make a different choice, even if I don’t think the lack of use of the winger was a determining factor.”
Over the past weekend, Tom McCullough was also asked a question about the Mercedes suspension, which, according to some rumours, is one of the causes of the problems of the W15 and, evidently, also of the AMR24, especially with regards to tyre use.
However, Aston Martin’s Performance Director flatly denied this rumor, stating that “we are happy with the suspension we have, our problems don’t come from that element, but from how we use the tyres.”
