Aston Martin’s secret tech delivers remarkable results in Hungary – Whilst the fallout from the final Formula One race weekend before the summer break surrounded Ferrari, Aston Martin’s remarkable turnaround has been largely ignored. Lance Stroll was top ten in practice one while reserve driver Felipe Drugovitch replaced Alonso who was complaining of muscle spasms in his back.

In the next two sessions, Alonso and Stroll were neck and neck as they posted times good enough for P4 and P5 and then P6 and P7 before both qualified in a stunning P5 and P6 for the Grand Prix. Alonso fought of the resurgent Kick Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto to finish the race in fifth place, while Stroll fought off a rear guard action against world champion Max Verstappen to claim only his fourth points finish of the season in seventh.

This incredible result is put into context when considering across the first fourteen race weekends, Fernando’s average finishing position is 9.83 whilst his team mate’s is 12.62. Of course there are those who suggest this was a track specifically result and any progress by the Silverstone team will only be evidenced in the results after the summer break.

 

 

 

Was the upgrade from Newey?

Other paddock broadcasters explored whether in fact Adrian Newey has finally put his mark on the AMR25, despite assertions from the Silverstone based team that the F1 car design guru would be exclusively active this year on the plans for the big rule set coming in 2026.

Whether it was some Newey magic or not does not disguise the fact that by a long way, the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend was Aston martin’s best by far this year. Ex-chief strategist for the team and now Sky F1 presenter, has now identified a significant change in the AMR25’s design which may be the source for Alonso and Stroll’s excellent weekend in Budapest.

“So the running discussion in the paddock is they’re running a new front wing with an old floor,” Bernie Collins explains on the Sky F1 podcast. “Some of it will be circuit-specific, but the turnaround has been phenomenal, given we have been at high downforce tracks this year and the car has performed nothing like it did this weekend.

Collins explanation of the impact of this change, is that it has unlocked potential elsewhere in the car demonstrating the intricate interplay between the various aerodynamic components. “So, something in their new front wing – and it’s hard, I guess, for people to realise that just one component or one assembly can make such a big difference to car performance – but if the old front wing, something about how the air was flowing off that affects the remainder of the car.

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New front wing miracle

“So if the old front wing wasn’t allowing components in the floor to work, then a single component like the front wing may allow better airflow to the rest of the car. Suddenly, the whole floor is working better, the diffuser’s working better, the rear wing’s working better.

The ripple effect described by Collins underlines how today’s F1 car’s are one huge interlinked piece of machinery, where the smallest change in one area can have dramatic effects on the rest of the car. “So just getting one assembly correct – particularly front wing or a front brake duct, anything like that that’s affecting a lot of the airflow further back in the car – it can turn your performance around quite quickly.

“We need to go to more circuits to see that that holds across a range of downforce levels. But such positive signs for Aston Martin,” concluded Collins. The circuit in Hungary is a high downforce, medium speed layout which will be replicated next time out in Zandvoort. The following Italian Grand Prix in Monza is significantly different in its demands, with some of the highest speed sections on the F1 calendar and the downforce package is as low is the teas run all season.

Fernando Alonso enjoyed not fighting in the midfield for once, but is cautious about how the improvement was delivered. “It is a surprise, definitely it is a surprise. It’s a nice surprise,” Alonso said in the media pen. “The good thing is that we were competitive and we were fast. The concerning thing is that we don’t know why.“Obviously, the main theme for us was the front wing that was new this weekend. If that front wing gives us that much performance, that’s very good news, but I think that has to be understood at the moment.”

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Alonso surprised by results

Now F1’s elder statesman on the grid, at 44 years of age the Spaniard has seen most things including a freak weekend’s results. Yet the fact the drastic improvement was delivered in dry conditions makes it even more impressive and that the car was a top ten performer out of the transporter is very encouraging for Aston Martin.

However, this stunning effort from the Silverstone based team may have more to do with a partnership they entered at the turn of the year. Superchip company Arm became an official partner with the team, their task to deliver a performance system which transforms sensor data from the wind tunnel into insights that deliver improved vehicle performance sooner.

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Aston Martin’s AI tech investment

The Cambridge-headquartered tech business has delivered an AI platform to turn data into aerodynamics and downforce faster than the rest of the F1 competitors by delivering scalable intelligence at the edge. With Arm’s powerful AI platform and now real time processing of the data, Aston Martin is extracting everything possible from every minute of wind tunnel time, which means earlier upgrades and better development lines approach all with a much quicker cycle from concept to real life performance.

Red Bull and a number of other teams have struggled in recent seasons with the correlation between their wind tunnel results and the real life performance of aerodynamic components when fitted to the car. Aston Martin are now able to run an almost infinite number of scenarios from each and every test component, without it affecting their Computer Fluid Design allocation asset by the FIA.

The big question is whether having recruited F1 car design mogul, Adrian Newey, he and the team along with their AI partner can design a car that will bring joy to millions as it propels F1’s elder statesman to a third drivers’ title in 2026. Even more important, have Aston Martin invested in technology which will get them ahead of the competition for some year’s to come?

 

 

 

Ferrari “dishonesty” exposed

Formula One’s Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has his shiny new contract now signed which has alleviated some of the pressure from the Italian media who were questioning the leadership of the Frenchman. Further, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc also have watertight deals which will see them as team mates for the Scuderia in 2026, so what could possibly be going wring in Maranello?

According to Vasseur, all is going to plan. He persistently reminds the F1 paddock media that Ferrari are having a successful season because they lie ‘best of the rest’ behind a dominant m McLaren team whose MCL39 car is the class of the field.

Yet the reality is F1’s most iconic team are a shocking 299 omits behind the papaya liveried outfit which on average is a 21 point deficit for each of the fourteen weekends of racing completed this season. Yet Ferrari are still second best, right?… READ MORE