Метка: Aston Martin Racing

Aston Martin cautious over return to form despite strong F1 Canada result

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


In a wet-to-dry Montreal classic, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finished sixth and seventh respectively, both drivers executing a solid race to finish behind the inherently quicker cars from Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren.

It was a big boost for the Silverstone-based squad after going backwards during the first third of the 2024 season relative to its nearest rivals. RB appeared to have leapfrogged it in the pecking order, but by outscoring the Faenza team by 10 points in Montreal, Aston has strengthened its grip on fifth place.

But ahead of a return to more traditional European venues like Barcelona, the Red Bull and Silverstone, Aston Martin is not getting ahead of itself on whether or not it has solved the tricky handling characteristics and changing balance of its AMR24, which will be much more exposed on high-downforce circuits with longer and faster corners.

«It would be premature to say we have understood everything,» team principal Mike Krack cautioned.

«I think we have a lot of work to do still. But obviously, it was a step in the right direction this weekend.

«There are different and difficult circuits coming up, so we need to sit down and see what is the best possible package for the races to come, because they will be very intense.»

Stroll was convinced Aston’s Montreal performance was track-specific because of its emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency and performance in slower corners.

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

«The track definitely suited our car» he said. «We’re quick in a straight line, not so much downforce, efficient, good DRS switch, all these things, which is good for Canada.

«The car is still maybe going to be more difficult come Barcelona and Budapest and these kind of long corners.»

«We capitalised on a weekend where the car was pretty strong all weekend. And we’ll see in Barcelona, a very different kind of track, what we can do there. I think we are [solving our issues] but it’s not an overnight change.»

Alonso teased new upgrades for his Spanish GP home race that he hopes will further turn around Aston’s fortunes, although he too feared Barcelona would be a more difficult weekend for his squad.

«On paper, we were happier with Montreal than Barcelona, we think that this track was going to be better for us but let’s see if we have a nice surprise,» he added.

«I know the team is also working very hard to bring some new things for Barcelona, so it’s going to be a very interesting weekend. Let’s see if we can score points again with both cars, which obviously is the thing that we are looking at at the moment.

«The last few months were very productive for us in terms of understanding the cars so I’m very confident.»



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Ferrari technical director targeted by Aston Martin for F1 switch

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


With Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll continuing his push to turn the Silverstone-based squad into winners, Cardile has emerged as one of his outfit’s key targets to bolster its technical structure.

As the current head of Ferrari’s chassis and aerodynamics department, Cardile has played an important role in the development of the team’s recent challengers since joining the F1 operation from its Gran Turismo programme in 2016.

His current Ferrari SF-24 has proven to be a race-winner this season, with Charles Leclerc taking victory in last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, and Cardile’s talents appearing to have brought him to the attention of rival squads.

Aston Martin has clear ambitions and, as revealed recently, Stroll has made a personal effort to try to lure Red Bull’s outgoing chief technical officer Adrian Newey to join.

But, with Newey believed to be weighing up a possible move to Ferrari now that he has decided to leave Red Bull, it has emerged that an effort is underway by Aston Martin to tempt Cardile as there could be an opportunity if he is unsettled by the prospect of his role being diminished.

While Newey would be unlikely to do anything other than be a super consultant for Ferrari as it prepares its 2026 car, his high-profile status could end up overshadowing the efforts of those within Maranello who have helped guide its recent push to the front.

Newey is known to want to take his time before deciding his next step in F1, with team principal Fred Vasseur not revealing much about the potential chances of signing the design legend.

Speaking to Italian media this week, Vasseur said the most important thing for him was ensuring stability of his current staff, rather than worrying about what might happen in the future.

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Asked if he was talking to Newey, Vasseur said: “I speak to everybody in the paddock when we meet, because we are well educated! On this point, I don’t want to make any comment because every single answer could be interpreted.

“The most important [thing] is the stability of the team. As I said before, we are doing a good job. We are going in the right direction.

“The most important for me is the stability of the group much more than individuals. I am really pleased with the current situation.”



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Alonso bullish Aston Martin «will fix things quicker than other F1 teams»

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Aston Martin came out of the blocks flying in 2023 with six podiums for the Spaniard across the first eight races.

But as rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and in particular McLaren all made bigger gains over the past 12 months, Aston has found it hard to keep up in the development race, sliding to fifth in the pecking order.

While its progress on track is stalling, the Stroll-owned team is still in a build-up phase in its new Silverstone headquarters, with a new wind tunnel still on the way.

That investment to match Stroll’s lofty ambitions, having made a verbal approach to Red Bull’s Adrian Newey too, is underpinning Alonso’s faith that the team will be able to match and the surpass the development rate of its competitors in the near future.

When asked by Autosport if he’s confident Aston is starting to have all the right tools in place to not be outpaced in F1’s development race, the two-time F1 world champion replied: «It’s a complex sport.

«McLaren, until Austria, race seven last year, they were fighting for Q1. They have a great team, great people, great facilities, and a great brand behind. They went out of Q1.

«You find something that the car is alive, and then you are changing everything. It’s the same for us.

«Last year until mid-season we were the team to look at and to copy. Suddenly you can quickly take two or three steps backwards.

«So, now we need to focus on ourselves, get back there.

«Different to other teams, we have a great leader with Lawrence. We have not only the owner of the team, but also a very extremely competitive person behind.

«We will fix things quicker than other teams, I think, thanks to him.»

Aston upgraded its car in Imola, but while the sentiment is that its new parts are working as intended, they have not necessarily made the car easier to drive.

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Both Alonso and Lance Stroll struggled with the AMR24’s handling, accentuated by an out-of-character crash for the Spaniard in FP3.

A pitlane start relegated Imola to a test session for Alonso, but he felt that was useful to try and get on top of the car’s weaknesses.

«When you are not fighting for top five or top seven or whatever, sometimes you switch to a set-up thing or test weekend, because to finish P9… I prefer to fix the problems of the car, give up that weekend and start from scratch on the next one,» he explained.

«It’s what happened in Imola a little bit, in FP3 and then in quali and the race, which obviously on one side is good because maybe you accelerate a little bit the fix of the problems.»



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Aston Martin F1 upgrades may have made car «difficult to drive»

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Aston’s major Imola update, which included a floor redesign, a front wing and diffuser, was shaken down by Fernando Alonso in FP1 before Lance Stroll also received the parts from FP2 onwards.

However, on a weekend where rival teams also wheeled out new parts or further dialled in those from Miami, Aston’s upgrades may have delivered absolute performance but not relative competitiveness.

Alonso’s weekend was derailed by a crash at Rivazza in FP3 and, following intensive repairs by the Silverstone squad, the Spaniard just about made it to the start of qualifying.

But another Q1 off at Tamburello led to Alonso being called into the box with further issues, ending the session in 18th place. With overtaking difficult, his race became a glorified test outside points contention as the team opted to make set-up changes and start from the pitlane.

Stroll didn’t fare that much better by qualifying 13th, although he did get two points on the board by moving up to ninth.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

According to Krack, Alonso’s off-track excursions showed that its AMR24 is «difficult to drive» at the moment despite being slightly quicker after the upgrades.

«In Imola, when you start from where we started, it’s difficult,» Krack said after the race. «We come away with two points, I think it was quite a good outcome, it shows that the car is still capable of doing things.

«But we have also seen that it is difficult to drive. We had a couple of offs over the weekend. The one from yesterday was actually impacting us the most because we were really on the back foot from that point onwards.

«We wanted to learn more, that’s why we elected to start from the pitlane and make a change on the car to see if we can make it easier. We wanted to do better from what we have done. But it was also compromised a little bit by the [Saturday’s] events.»

After qualifying, Stroll pointed out that the Imola upgrade package, which was described as being part of an «aggressive» programme by technical director Dan Fallows, was simply not enough to keep pace with its direct rivals.

Aston is in danger of falling further behind the top four while also seeing RB making strides since Miami.

But while Krack was careful not to jump to conclusions after Imola, suggesting the picture could look different in Monaco and again in Montreal, he acknowledged the AMR24 needs more firepower soon.

«We’re not happy with two points, that is clear,» he added. «But other people are also bringing upgrades, so it is always a relative game.

«It’s tough, we must not underestimate that. I think, except one team, everybody has a list full of upgrades, so it shows how competitive the whole field is.

«We have to really keep pushing and bringing more stuff.»

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble



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First glimpse of Aston Martin F1 upgrades appear as new front wing idea spotted

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


While the full extent of the changes will not be revealed until Friday morning, its AMR24 has already been spotted with a new and interesting front wing design.

As the above exclusive photograph shows, the team has created segmentation of the inboard and outboard portion of the front wing’s two upper flaps, with a V-shaped geometry used to accomplish this (red arrow, inset).

This change in the flap profile falls in line with the inner edge of the tyre’s sidewall and undoubtedly provides more outwash assistance, without it being overly detrimental to the downforce generating segment.

The team has also made changes to the front wing endplate, with more material added to the trailing edge, with it having previously featured a curved cutout that tapered to the flap junction.

This will serve multiple functions, including altering how the diveplane behaves, as it now has more surface area beneath it with which to interact.

The vertical extension of the endplate does, however, terminate in line with the flap juncture, providing an elongated shedding surface that will work in harmony with the semi-detached flaps, which have also been modified as part of the update.

Aston Martin AMR24 front wing detail

Aston Martin AMR24 front wing detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

The central section of the wing has also been revised, as the team has pinched the transition of the mainplane and altered the length of the nose tip, with it now sitting slightly ahead of the second element, rather than a few millimetres aft of it.

The nose tip, which also features a revised geometry, now features a removable panel that allows the team to incorporate a driver cooling inlet (white arrow).

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These changes have also led to revisions in the support bracket layout, with the twin layout either side of the nose cast aside in favour of a single bracket layout, with a centralised bracket now installed to deal with the revised load pathways (see inset, top image for comparison).

Aston Martin is expected to unveil a whole host of new parts on Friday, including a new floor, sidepod and engine cover bodywork.



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Aston Martin prepared to run two Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercars in WEC 2025

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The British manufacturer’s head of endurance, Adam Carter, explained that it would adapt to the proposed rule requiring factory entrants in the Hypercar division to field two entries if necessary.

Aston Martin and partner team Heart of Racing announced one-car programmes with the Valkyrie for both the WEC and the IMSA SportsCar Championship last October, but since then it has emerged that the WEC is planning to mandate two cars for factories in 2025.

“We fully support what WEC is doing as the championship grows,” said Carter

“We are committed to the programme: we will review what comes with the regulations and adapt to that.

“It is all speculation at this point until the regulations are clear and we will make an announcement in due course.”

It appears certain that the two-car rule will come into effect next year, though it remains subject to approval by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.

The expectation is that Heart of Racing would field two Valkyries in WEC, though Carter wouldn’t confirm this when questioned.

Start action

Start action

Photo by: Paul Foster

But he did confirm that the IMSA programme with the US entrant will be unaffected by any regulatory requirements in the WEC.

The Valkyrie LMH is still on target for a track debut before the end of the second quarter — the timeline revealed on the launch of the project.

“It will be right at the back end of the second quarter — everything is on target — and then we will start track testing in July,” explained Carter.

Initial testing will be centred on one car running in Europe before a second car is brought on stream for testing in the USA at IMSA circuits late in the year.

“We will be focusing on one test car to start with in Europe, and once we get over a certain threshold in mileage we will put one test car in the US and one in Europe,” said Carter.

Carter also confirmed that testing with the AMR Pro trackday version of the Valkyrie, out of which the new LMH is being developed, has now concluded.

A programme focused on systems, software and data acquisition incorporated one run at Silverstone in January and a further two days at Portimao in April.

Heart of Racing’s new base in Brackley is already up and running and Carter described Multimatic Motorsport, which developed the AMR Pro after the original Valkyrie LMH was stillborn in 2020, as a “service provider” for Heart of Racing.

“Ultimately it will be Multimatic staffing it, but it will be a Heart of Racing team,” he explained.

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Honda 2026 F1 project going «according to plan» with electrical power initial focus

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Japanese marque has spent the past six seasons as Red Bull’s powertrain partner and has achieved success through Max Verstappen’s trio of drivers’ titles, but has renewed its efforts for 2026 as Aston Martin becomes its works team.

With its knowledge of developing V6 internal combustion engines for the current rules, Honda has instead elected to pin its primary efforts on nailing down the electrical infrastructure. This changes to a near 50-50 split in ICE and electrical power underpinned by a 350kW MGU-K, while the turbo-mounted MGU-H has been omitted from the new ruleset. 

This differs from Red Bull’s approach with its own in-house powertrain project, which is now in partnership with Ford as it splits from Honda at the end of 2025; Red Bull has started out by developing an all-new ICE from scratch.

«So far everything is going according to plan. Of course, we cannot go into too much detail, but everything is in line with our own expectations,» explained HRC president Koji Watanabe in an exclusive interview with Autosport.

«We are initially focusing on the electrical side of the engine, so our focus now is mainly on the electric engine parts and on the battery.

«This work is completely in line with our own objectives. In parallel, we are of course developing the internal combustion engine, but at this stage, it is not yet a V6. It is now a single cylinder.

«So far everything is going according to plan. Of course, we cannot go into too much detail, but everything is in line with our own expectations.»

Koji Watanabe, Honda Racing CEO

Koji Watanabe, Honda Racing CEO

Photo by: Motorsport.com / Japan

Although Honda officially left F1 as a full-factory power unit supplier at the end of 2021, it has retained its partnership with Red Bull through its racing division HRC and the continued build of its current power unit following a freeze to the regulations.

Watanabe explained that many of Honda’s staff moved to other projects following the post-2021 partial exit, necessitating a series of new hires to bolster its new 2026 project. 

HRC has also registered a new company in the UK, with the intent of servicing and preparing the new 2026-spec powertrains for Aston Martin, although a location is yet to be determined. The United States-based HRC USA (formerly Honda Performance Developments), which heads up the brand’s IndyCar engine project and Acura’s IMSA efforts, will also become involved.

«When we announced that we would stop our F1 activities, most of the engineers left the F1 department. All important engineers have moved to other projects, including Honda Mobility,» said Watanabe.

«As a result, we have had to fill all these positions again, although it is not entirely the same people. Some people are still the same, but it was a little more difficult for other positions and needs at least a little time.»

«We have registered the [HRC UK] company, but have not decided on the exact location yet. We registered mainly because we want to hire staff in the United Kingdom. 

«Those things take time because you sometimes have to deal with a period of gardening leave. That is why we want to start hiring staff in England this summer and have already registered ourselves.»



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Aston Martin requests right of review for Alonso’s China F1 penalty

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Alonso had been given a 10-second time penalty in the sprint and three penalty points on his licence after he collided with Carlos Sainz in the Saturday race.

The Spaniards were fighting over third position when they clashed at Turn 9, which gave the two-time world champion a puncture and led to his retirement from the race. Sergio Perez took advantage of the incident to score a top-three finish.

The stewards decided to take action against Alonso «as per the guidelines on driving standards», but the Aston Martin driver was not convinced he was at fault.

“Turn 7, I think we were evenly matched, then in turn 8 I tried to go to the outside,” he said after the sprint. “But he opened the line to not leave me room, so in turn 9 I did the same thing he did in turn 8.

“I tried to go to the inside to not leave him room on the line, but in turn 8 I opened up so we didn’t touch, and in turn 9 he didn’t open up. So we touched.”

The team will now need to provide fresh evidence to the stewards for them to consider amending their ruling. A first hearing will be held on 3 May with Aston Martin’s and Ferrari’s team managers to determine whether the evidence put forward by the British outfit does warrant the stewards’ consideration.

«It should be noted that this hearing will be held in two parts,» the stewards wrote in their statement. «The first part will be to hear evidence as to whether there is a ‘significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the Review at the time of the decision concerned.’

«Should the Stewards determine, in accordance with Article 14.3 of the FIA International Sporting Code, that such an element exists, a second part of the hearing will be convened at a time to be advised. Any other ‘concerned party’ may seek the permission of the Stewards to be present for the second part of the hearing, should one be convened.»



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Stroll penalty «very harsh» after F1 China «chain reaction»

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Stroll hit Ricciardo under the safety car as the field bunched up in the penultimate corner for a lap 27 restart.

The stewards wholly blamed Stroll for not taking more care to avoid the contact and handed him a 10-second penalty and two penalty points, which Stroll felt was «a joke».

His team boss Krack backed the Canadian and questioned why such a snap verdict was issued soon after the incident.

«A very, very quick verdict without really understanding… I thought it was very, very fast and very harsh, very quick decision,» Krack said when Autosport quizzed him about the punishment.

«I think it was a chain reaction at the end of the day. You saw Fernando [Alonso] locking and another car behind and I think everybody was a little bit caught out there.

«I would have liked that this would have been looked at in a little bit more detailed way. We tried to discuss it, but the verdict was very quickly that Lance was to blame. And he got a 10-second penalty, additional to the front wing damage.»

Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team

Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Ricciardo was particularly frustrated with Stroll ducking responsibility for the clash despite pointing out the Aston driver was looking at the apex of Turn 14 rather than what was happening ahead of him.

«These situations are created in the front,» Krack responded. «Now, you can always say, you need to be more careful.

«But, on the other hand, if you’re too careful, and you have the restart and you lose more than one car length — everybody says ‘are you asleep?’

«Things like that happen at different tracks. You remember the incident we had in Mugello [at the 2020 Tuscan GP], where there were a lot of cars involved.

«This is always the erratic movement that happens on a safety car restart. And we have some of these every year and will continue to.»



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