It's telling when the car will reportedly be "from scratch" for the next year...At least they are not sugarcoating the situation and losing another year like Ferrari/Merc did.
Good article, thanks for sharing. Hopefully these updates do work.organic wrote: ↑27 Sep 2023, 15:41Some excerpts from AMuS article with quotes from Tom Mccullough and Krack.
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... apan-2023/
When asked why things were going so badly at Suzuka, the engineers didn't have a satisfactory answer. It was already clear beforehand that there would be problems in the fast corners.But we also lost time in the slow corners. We still have to understand that,” revealed chief engineer Tom McCullough. To keep the tires alive, the Astons were fitted with larger rear wings. That brought a little more downforce, but cost top speed on the straights.Krack also tries not to sugarcoat the situation: "Our upgrades didn't achieve as much as we had hoped. Of course, we always question whether the methods and development direction were correct. Then you have to make the necessary changes for the future ."In contrast to most competitors, Aston Martin wants to make even bigger upgrades in the next races. They are intended to help correct weaknesses in fast passages. And they should show the engineers whether they are working in the right direction for 2024."We understood where our strengths and weaknesses are. Eliminating the problems is the difficult part," grins McCullough, somewhat pained.
I say this as an Alonso fan who has been waiting for him to get a competitive car forever, but, you have to look at things objectively. Let look at the various reasons or excuses (whichever you prefer) for drop in performance...
Many were quite surprised when, after one of Lance Stroll's crashes, the floor of his car was exposed, and it was clear that it was very simple, and very poorly worked compared to Red Bull's, which looks like a maze. More than half of the downforce on today's cars comes from that area, and simplicity often doesn't get them very far. So where did this car's initial efficiency come from?
It all points to the front end and its dynamics
Luca Furbatto Engineering Director of Aston Martin
"The new wind tunnel will be ready in the second half of next year. All in all, it'll be a game-changer."
You're right. Not much else to say really. I'm just trying to lift the spirits up when morale is low, but you are correct we shouldn't be making excuses.peewon wrote: ↑29 Sep 2023, 08:35I say this as an Alonso fan who has been waiting for him to get a competitive car forever, but, you have to look at things objectively. Let look at the various reasons or excuses (whichever you prefer) for drop in performance...
- Started from it being track specific performance drop.
- Weather and sprint races not allowing proper calibration of upgrades
- Then onto tyre changes.
- then some admittance that the ugrades might not have worked as intended.
- then the ban on flexi wings.
Good teams do not do this. Mclaren and Merc knew immediately where they went wrong and how long it would take for them to fix it.
- Now its the fact that the car concept was not from scratch and they will fi it next year
Then I read this part from an article that you posted...
Many were quite surprised when, after one of Lance Stroll's crashes, the floor of his car was exposed, and it was clear that it was very simple, and very poorly worked compared to Red Bull's, which looks like a maze. More than half of the downforce on today's cars comes from that area, and simplicity often doesn't get them very far. So where did this car's initial efficiency come from?
It all points to the front end and its dynamics
Link t the article from which its taken: https://www.motor.es/formula-1/por-que- ... 97575.html
And therein lies the problem. This regulation is mainly about the floor as a primary driver of performance. This is why AM was not efficient in high speeds at any point in time. Their floor is simply too basic. They masked that by some clever tricks with the flexi front wing and general front end dynamics. Again, probably some tricks that RB had been playing with in previous seasons under the older regulations. Once that got taken away, they have shown zero ability to find any significant improvement anywhere else.
There is no reason for their floor to be so underdeveloped all throughout the season. Other teams have redesigned concepts mid season. They seem to be making excuses all year, possibly directing them towards Stroll who is known to be demanding. And this is why I put myself in the pessimistic category although I hope Im wrong..
