2024 Aston Martin | Aramco F1 Team

[Bill]

As Horner said, Hamilton had all the information about the engines and 2026 regulation, and chose to leave Mercedes. Verstappen can consider Aston over Mercedes for the Honda engine. But why is Aston interested in Versteppen? They have Alonso, who doesn't need the most dominant car - he just needs a car that can fight for podiums. Unless they're not going to just give him that car for 26.....

And if Stroll Jr stays Versteppen will absolutely dismantle him and he won't be nice to him like Alonso. We will never hear on radio " Stroll is my hero"

lewis leaving merc has nothing to do with pu.he left because merc was willing to offer him only 1 year contract and refusing him ambassador role.alonso is an aging driver no longer in his prime

are u sure about Alonso? then why AMR keeping him? they should have kept Vettel young driver with 4WDC right?
Please don't judge by cover? let give a single example where he failed with AGE? Age is just number and he is doing better with this uncompetitive car. If Alonso not his prime, he is the one who will retire first.

no team will give alonso a long term contract .they won't willing to do that at alpine so its not just about performance.team do long term planning so they won't be willing to miss on Max if they is an opportunity that he is available.unfortunately alonso is not seen as the future.

[SSJ4]

so do we think aston martin have found a way to correlate stuff correctly or is it just a repeat of they said last year

[Chuckjr]

I'm up for being surprised. But "definitely" a late challenge in 2025? Based on what? Development for these regs comes to an end in four to six months and the 2026 car will be in the wind tunnel. Newey will have nothing to do with the 2025 car. The only thing going for Aston Martin is natural convergence and a slightly greater WT&CFD allocation. Other than that, all signs are they are currently not making progress. Mike Krack admitted as much, and it's been going on since the middle of last year.

Yes you are correct. Definitely is too strong. Certainly he would only have little if any influence on 2025 car, but possibly some good insights that materialize by end of 2025. That’s all I was really intending to say. 2026 will be his car, and he will develop that core design into a winner over the following years 27, 28, 29. If Honda is a dog in 2026, they will equalize soon thereafter. I think Newey must be confident in Honda as the Merc dominance years showed us more power overpowers aero inefficiencies.

[Nikosar]

Mike Krack has revealed that the team is ready for a "technical reset". Interesting, I hope they pull it off this time! Let's see which direction they'll go in

[zoroastar]

2026 era will be determined by the best PU. Aero will determine relative gaps but ultimately best PU will win till they converge.

Max will have no problem with Lance even if he's given every advantage possible. Max's decision will only depend on whether he thinks they are going to be a lead car or not.

Half a year is more than enough to make significant changes to the car if you know what you're doing.

thats probably true but i doubt mercedes will have the advantage that they did in 2014. honda and ferrari have learned a lot since then. given more equal power units, aero will be important. along with the packaging, where works teams should have an advantage. i think as much as power output, weight will be really important in the first year. especially in the hybrid bits.

[diffuser]

lewis leaving merc has nothing to do with pu.he left because merc was willing to offer him only 1 year contract and refusing him ambassador role.alonso is an aging driver no longer in his prime

are u sure about Alonso? then why AMR keeping him? they should have kept Vettel young driver with 4WDC right?
Please don't judge by cover? let give a single example where he failed with AGE? Age is just number and he is doing better with this uncompetitive car. If Alonso not his prime, he is the one who will retire first.

no team will give alonso a long term contract .they won't willing to do that at alpine so its not just about performance.team do long term planning so they won't be willing to miss on Max if they is an opportunity that he is available.unfortunately alonso is not seen as the future.

I guess you mean no other team, cause he has a long term contract at AMR. At any rate the whole MAX conversation is a moot point, since before we can find out that he's gonna come to AMR to replace either ALO or STR, we'll need to find out that he's leaving RBR. Sure he'll talk to more than 1 team.

[peewon]

2026 era will be determined by the best PU. Aero will determine relative gaps but ultimately best PU will win till they converge.

Max will have no problem with Lance even if he's given every advantage possible. Max's decision will only depend on whether he thinks they are going to be a lead car or not.

Half a year is more than enough to make significant changes to the car if you know what you're doing.

thats probably true but i doubt mercedes will have the advantage that they did in 2014. honda and ferrari have learned a lot since then. given more equal power units, aero will be important. along with the packaging, where works teams should have an advantage. i think as much as power output, weight will be really important in the first year. especially in the hybrid bits.

The new regs are uncharted territory so impossible to say with certainty who stands where. Its a new challenge for everyone considering the relative size of the ICU to the battery pack. I think people connected in the paddock will have some idea and more clearly know who isnt doing well.

[diffuser]

2026 era will be determined by the best PU. Aero will determine relative gaps but ultimately best PU will win till they converge.

Max will have no problem with Lance even if he's given every advantage possible. Max's decision will only depend on whether he thinks they are going to be a lead car or not.

Half a year is more than enough to make significant changes to the car if you know what you're doing.

thats probably true but i doubt mercedes will have the advantage that they did in 2014. honda and ferrari have learned a lot since then. given more equal power units, aero will be important. along with the packaging, where works teams should have an advantage. i think as much as power output, weight will be really important in the first year. especially in the hybrid bits.

The new regs are uncharted territory so impossible to say with certainty who stands where. Its a new challenge for everyone considering the relative size of the ICU to the battery pack. I think people connected in the paddock will have some idea and more clearly know who isnt doing well.

I don't think anybody know shiit. They talk good game but know shiit. This stuff is top secret everywhere. Not like teams are doing their 2026 PU R&D in the Paddock.

[PapayaFan481]

...

Half a year is more than enough to make significant changes to the car if you know what you're doing.

That depends on whether there is a fundamental issue baked into the initial design though. For instance cockpit position (to use a Merc example) that requires a whole new monocoque.

[-wkst-]

I guess AMR will negotiate with RBR to try to get Newey already at the start of the year, instead of after the first quarter. That he could give his input directly once the 26 model is in the tunnel.

Although Newey has enough free time in autumn and winter to draw some nice solutions in South Africa anyway, that will find his way into AMRTC.

[Chuckjr]

I guess AMR will negotiate with RBR to try to get Newey already at the start of the year, instead of after the first quarter. That he could give his input directly once the 26 model is in the tunnel.

Although Newey has enough free time in autumn and winter to draw some nice solutions in South Africa anyway, that will find his way into AMRTC.

Mr. Stroll has a lot of money, and money has this strange way of getting sh#t done.

[GoranF1]

I remember Redbull car rising some eyebrow in second part of 2008 after Newey joined from Mclaren.

[xReVo]

I feel like people are way too optimistic about 2026 and Alonso - or even regarding Verstappen having any interest of joining, which I think makes little sense.

Lets not forget that Aston Martin is going in circles since mid 2023. They do not understand how to further improve the car.

Also if Newey joins that would be around April 2025. That leaves him only half a year before the major components must be signed off for manufacturing. It might take more time for Newey-DNA to be instilled into the car.

Lastly it remains to be seen what Honda can actually deliver. Personally I remain slightly sceptical since they had to rebuild their organization. Also they are again in a position where they only supply a single team, while RBPT, Mercedes and Ferrari supply multiple teams and thus gain more milage and data. Additionally it'll be the first time Aston Martin do their own transmission if i'm not mistaken. That's surely going to effect reliability.

I don't think the team or project is ready in 2026 to deliver regular podiums.

Let's not take Newey at Aston Martin for granted, he will go to Ferrari 100%. However Newey will join a team before 2025, so he will start designing the car from January 2025 and will have plenty of time to do so. Aston Martin took Cowell and Cardile, so they're not the first to happen

He won’t go to Ferrari and won’t start his new work until April 2025.

But how do you know when the work will start? It will start already at the beginning of 2025 when the regulations will be released on its own, and then it will bring its knowledge to the team

[peewon]

...

Half a year is more than enough to make significant changes to the car if you know what you're doing.

That depends on whether there is a fundamental issue baked into the initial design though. For instance cockpit position (to use a Merc example) that requires a whole new monocoque.

Its definitely not a given. But seeing as how McLaren basically reinvented their car midway through last season, its possible.

[peewon]

thats probably true but i doubt mercedes will have the advantage that they did in 2014. honda and ferrari have learned a lot since then. given more equal power units, aero will be important. along with the packaging, where works teams should have an advantage. i think as much as power output, weight will be really important in the first year. especially in the hybrid bits.

The new regs are uncharted territory so impossible to say with certainty who stands where. Its a new challenge for everyone considering the relative size of the ICU to the battery pack. I think people connected in the paddock will have some idea and more clearly know who isnt doing well.

I don't think anybody know shiit. They talk good game but know shiit. This stuff is top secret everywhere. Not like teams are doing their 2026 PU R&D in the Paddock.

I think top level people have a general idea. F1 is a small, insular, incestous community where people talk. If a team is struggling especially, word gets around. Hamilton has said how much Ross Brawn and Niki Lauda convinced him to join Mercedes by telling him they were goin to be good. Merc was a midfield car like AM at the time. Helmut Marko very confidently predicted the pecking order for the new '22 aero regs. AM's very own wind tunnel numbers were the talk of the off season last year.

Doesnt mean exact performance levels are known or things cant deviate when they move from simulation to real life testing but information definitely flows in the paddock.