Aston Martin assesses wing choice to counter Red Bull F1’s top speed

The Silverstone-based team has proven to be a close challenger to Red Bull in the season-opening two Grands Prix, but it’s also clear that there are significant differences in the performance of the two cars.

Aston Martin’s AMR23 has definite strengths in braking, acceleration and slow corners, but it’s also worth noting how far it falls behind the Red Bull on the straights.

At the speed trap in Saudi Arabia qualifying, Fernando Alonso About 6.2 mph (10 km/h) slower than the man in pole position Sergio Perez – and was one of the slowest overall on the start-finish straight.

Aston Martin believes the big difference between the two cars lies in the choice of wing level, with Red Bull aggressively rolling out lower downforce and drag specs than its Saudi opponents early in the campaign. bottom. This has proven particularly beneficial when DRS is open.

Aston Martin, on the other hand, committed to a higher downforce-spec wing due to cost caps, meaning it could not afford to introduce a lower-drag version at this stage of the campaign.

But Aston Martin, which has focused on the car’s characteristics in the first two races, says it will re-evaluate its plans after this weekend’s race in Melbourne to determine if it needs to change its approach.

Tom McCullough, Aston Martin Performance Director, explains:

“Cost caps can’t be overemphasized. It’s very easy to sit down and say.

“But in a cost cap environment, it’s very difficult to do that.”

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR23

Photo credit: Andy Horn / motorsport images

McCullough said in Bahrain he made some set-up choices for Aston Martin to add more downforce to improve tire management, but in Saudi Arabia the gap between his team and Red Bull was the overall wing philosophy. He explained that it was clear that there was

“Certainly in qualifying Red Bull are very strong in DRS,” he said. “I think it comes from the cost cap aspect of not being able to get all the wings you need on every track in a racing situation.

“So we prioritized what we thought was right. [in Saudi Arabia] The wing we designed and built was not as fast in a straight line as we would have liked.

“But we have to balance the amount of wings we are trying to make over the 23 races.”

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McCullough said Aston Martin was bolstered by a strong early season, but did not want Red Bull to close the advantage they currently have.

“Our goal is to develop this car from the ground up and get as close to them as possible,” he said. “But they’re not going to stop. They have a good margin in one lap, especially with how fast their car is.

“and Ferrari and mercedes, it will be very difficult to maintain the development rate with these teams this year. Red Bull is fine. But we sit here every week trying our scariest.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/aston-ready-to-evaluate-wing-choices-to-counter-red-bull-f1-top-speed/10449754/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=uk Aston Martin assesses wing choice to counter Red Bull F1’s top speed

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