Despite their apparent resurgence and podium performances at six of the first eight races before the summer break, Aston Martin F1 Team has seen a continuous slump in car performance.
Photo credit: Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team
The British racing outfit has demonstrated their potential with a series of impressive performances this season. The AMR23, alongside two-time world champion, Fernando Alonso, landed fifth place in Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, proving that the team can still perform, and finish within the points.
Lance Stroll also delivered a solid result for the team, finishing ninth in Belgium.
Occupying third spot in the Constructors’ Championship, the team have amassed 196 points thus far. However, the battle is far from over, as the prancing horse of Ferrari is closing in with just a five-point deficit, making the remaining half of the season crucial for maintaining their advantage.
Despite their strong start to the season, Aston Martin have experienced challenges since Canada that have massively slowed their momentum. However, the team’s resilience and dedication to improvement has been evident. They are working to cure the negative side effects from the upgrades made to the AMR23, that have conversely stunted their performance.
In their efforts to analyse these problems, and rectify any issues with the car, team principal Mike Krack has commented that “the data looks positive from what we have seen so far.”
He noted that, as a result of the wet conditions at Spa, the team was unable to test the car with many dry laps before the race.
Krack noted that the team need to “dig deep now into the next days to see where we have ended up” but maintained that at the Spa Francorchamps circuit, “we looked a little bit more competitive than recently.”
When questioned if the team has an explanation as to why they have done something different concerning the upgrades, Krack said:
“We have really done 24/7 analysis, trying to understand, and trying to do something about it. Obviously, in the short time that we did have here, there’s not so much we could do, but great credit that we managed to do something.
“Everybody was really flat out. Yesterday, after the offs, to prepare the parts again, so great credit to everybody involved. It was really, really nice to allow us to now look at this and then try to improve it for the next race.”
As we eagerly await the summer break to end, Krack noted how important it was for the team to enter the break feeling that the car is performing effectively once again.
“This is very, very important. I think for everybody involved.
“They have put crazy hours over the last weeks and it’s always important to realise that hard work pays, otherwise you get disillusioned.
“I think that is very, very positive for the team, that you see that, with working hard together, we can improve the car… but this was only the first step, yeah? I mean, we are still not anywhere near podium finish, so I think there is much more that we need to do.”
The team’s hard work and collaboration have proven that they can make strides towards the podium once again. However, the current competition is fierce and much more work lies ahead to bridge the gap to the leading teams.
