After three grand prix Bahrain, Jeddah and Melbourne, Aston Martin has proven to be competitive with three podiums, three consecutive third places for Fernando Alonso who at his 41 years is still going for the top of the grid now that he has a competitive car with Aston Martin.
With a driver like Fernando Alonso who knows how to squeeze out the potential of the car we can see how this concept has probably the second best down force, tire degradation and cornering speed on the grid, I say second not to say the best because we have seen how dominant the Red Bull can be but depending on the track this are great weapons for the green team. On tracks like Australia with lots of DRS zones and long straights the AMR23 is in trouble to cars like Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari but the fight is mostly between the last three.
Upgrades Confirm
Mike Krack, Aston Martin this week reveal that for the next races Azerbaijan, Emilia Romagna and Canadian Grands Prix will be releasing upgrades in different areas from the floor, rear wing and suspension.
- Baku - Rear Wing, Diffuser, Suspension
- Imola - Floor
The AMR23 is not a copy cat from Red Bull as many say or think, I remember Sergio Perez saying after the race in Bahrain, its nice to see three Red Bull cars in the podium, well the AMR23 is a combination of many concepts with Aston Martin tweaks. Aston Martin buy parts from other manufactures, engine, rear suspension and transmission are Mercedes, chassis parts are develop by Aston Martin that is similar to Red Bull but because Dan Fallows ex Head of Aerodynamics for Red Bull.
For Baku, on April 30, the AMR23 is getting an upgrade rear wing and diffuser for that straight line speed, similar to Mercedes we can see how the Red Bull pass them with DRS like their car is park with the hand brake, on average they are about 7 - 8 tenths of Red Bull pace but most of it is on the straight line been more draggy than the Red Bull.
The rear aero package will help to reduce the gap to Red Bull but something that has been address before is that the Mercedes transmission is a bit bulky creating there for part of the rear is not efficient, I know its hard to imagine how that can make difference but for a reason Formula 1 is the top class when it comes to motor sports, the amount of technology this cars have and with what to a naked eye could look like a small change its big step in performance, here a comparison between RB18 and AMR23, a floor upgrade for AMR23 will happen latter on at Imola. There is close to nothing they can change about the transmission itself but the design around it can be improve.
It was on Jeddah that Hamilton felt for the first time the real speed advantage that Red Bull has when their DRS open, up to 34 KPH given to the car when its usually about 13 - 17 KPH, on that race the AMR23 was in the same spot as Mercedes but still manage to out perform them, if Aston Martin can improve this disadvantage then they could fight for a second place in the drivers championship. I say improve because just getting rid of down force is not a solution, look at Williams who has gone the entire opposite direction, yes they are fast in straight line but that's also what makes the William's car more difficult to drive under corners creating a high possibilities for the driver to go off track.
Its been said that Red Bull DRS seam illegal but so far I haven't seen anyone challenging their design.
Through different races the car evolves, making changes from front to back, giving and taking off down force depending on the track, on the images above we can see how the design of the RB19 may require less down force as their front wing looks very skinny compared to the RB18, in the meantime the AMR23 is considerably bigger but they cant just reduce it without finding out the correct balance for the car so probably a front wing upgrade can come latter on.
Next race on the calendar is Baku, I think this could be the final test for the Aston Martin team, in my opinion due to the lack of straight line speed I think this is not a strong track for the AMR23 but if the rear wing upgrade can get them from 4 - 6 KPH with DRS open they have a good shot at Mercedes and may get their first second place of the season, right now Red Bull is not the car to challenge, Mercedes and Ferrari are the ones to beat on this race.
Aston Martin is currently one of my favorites, I love an underdog, their drivers are doing very well with Alonso getting three podiums and Lance been on the middle of the grid for the most part but he still needs to polish more his driving and I think that's another reason Alonso is on the team, similar to other seasons most teams will release upgrades until Spain so there is still a lot that can be improve to this car, as Fernando Alonso said "next year we will have less time to develop" meaning they will fight for the championship and based on time development rules, top teams has less wind tunnel time.
I hope this team keep improving same for others like Ferrari and Mercedes who recently put their right foot up front on Australia, having more competition between teams and cars that can follow closer reduce that gap between cars created during the race after a couple of laps forcing the teams to come up with better racing strategies and giving the viewers a better show.