Mid-season development has always been an important part of Formula 1, but the last few months have shown some especially drastic changes in the pecking order. Most notably, McLaren has dominated F1 News headlines with its major updates – starting in Austria – that transformed the MCL60 from midfield car to podium challenger.
A team whose progression in 2023 has been less smooth is Aston Martin, with the British outfit losing ground to its rivals after a brilliant start in Bahrain.
Aston’s struggles can be traced back to Canada, where an important update package (intended to improve downforce) made the AMR23 more problematic to set up.
This generation of F1 cars has proven very unpredictable, and this has caught out the Silverstone-based team’s development.
However, when the year began, team principal Mike Krack insisted that upgrades would be introduced gradually and with caution to the AMR23. Consistent with this promise, there has only been one major package implemented this season.
As a result of this strategy, according to performance director Tom McCullough, there are still plenty of upgrades to come from the British team this year:
“We still have a lot of budget left to continue developing the car, and that is our plan for the second half of the campaign,” es.motorsport.com quotes him as saying.
“There’s never just one thing, and I think it’s often dangerous to focus on one thing.”
“Our job is to understand what we have actually done on the car with the development tools we have, where our competitiveness is at low speed, medium speed, high speed, on the straight – with and without DRS.
“The developments coming in the second half of the season are already trying to fix some of the areas where we’re not as strong.
“I think really from Zandvoort onwards. We’re going to have continued development like we’ve done up until now.”
Fernando Alonso (ESP) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR23.
05.05.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida, USA, Practice Day.
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Although many teams will begin shifting their focus to 2024, there is still plenty for the likes of Aston Martin to learn in the next four months.
After all, next year’s cars will be a continuation from this season – so any strengths or weaknesses could present themselves again when the lights go out in Bahrain.
Focusing specifically on Aston Martin, it will be crucial for the team to understand why its biggest update pushed the AMR23 out of its usual operating window and worsened performance.
The true test for the Silverstone team will be over the next 18 months, where they will prove if they are capable of staying at the front of Formula 1.
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
