After a relatively positive beginning of the season, achieving a top five as well as two double points finishes in the first five rounds, the Silverstone-based team fell a bit backwards on the grid.
Aston Martin had hoped to return to its previous positive performances with a significant package of upgrade introduced in Imola, but that did not happen, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll struggling to adapt and get the most out of it, leaving Italy with only 2 points as the AMR24 continues to be handful.
However, Team Principal Mike Krack admitted that he has been closely following the methods implemented by other teams which have flourished in the same timeframe, considering a different approach to the car evolution.
The team whose performance has improved the most in 2024 is definitely McLaren, going from a single podium finish in the first five races to a serious race winner contender at every track. This happened also thanks to the deep knowledge and understanding the papaya team has of its car, due to the fact that its car has virtually remained the same since that game-changing Miami update.
It’s commonplace for a set of upgrades to completely change the asset of the car, but it also has its downsides, and according to Krack, it might be more profitable to try out the new approach introduced by McLaren:
“We are looking at this a lot. If you compare the pace, and you see when have they made a step, and you can correlate that with some upgrades that are declared as we never have the full picture, there is some correlation where you can say, ‘okay, this is what it has been changed, and what has it potentially done’.
“When you see, for example, the Zandvoort upgrade, it’s a bit here, a bit there, a bit there. You see how fine and complex these cars have become, so I think it would be foolish not to look at it,” he added, highlighting the stark difference with what has so far been the main concept of upgrade.
Set to end the season fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, Krack expanded on what way he believes it can be pivotal to unlock the extra pace and performance needed in order to improve and return to fight for the top spots.
Mercedes started the season fighting Aston Martin. Wins in Austria, Silverstone and Spa has shown how much they improved, and it also shows how badly the development phase has gone for the Silverstone-based team.
“We were on a level with Mercedes at the beginning of the season for the first races, and then they have won races. So, it is possible to make substantial steps with these regulations if you get the car stable and behaving the way the drivers want it.
“There is not a pure race for downforce that you used to have in the past. Where it’s really difficult here is it is more about getting the stability, but getting the balance and the load obviously as well,” he concluded, remarking the importance of the drivers having feeling with the car so as to get the most out of it, which can be made possibile by a deeper understanding of how it works and its fine tuning.
