Formula 1 | Aston Martin F1 lost nine tenths per lap in 2021

Aston Martin F1 has had a difficult first season, while the last one under the Racing Point name went well. This is mainly due to a change in the regulations concerning the flat bottom, which has been reduced and has affected cars with the rear with little inclination, such as the Aston Martin and the Mercedes.

« This is what we feared when the aerodynamic changes were decided on so late » explains Otmar Szafnauer, the team manager. « Even our junior engineers were concerned that the changes would have a bigger impact on low rake cars, and not as much on high rake cars. »

“And because of that, probably on average, we lost nine tenths of a second per lap, us and Mercedes. But they were so far ahead that what happened to them was that they ended up at the level of Red Bull. We went from the third to the seventh fastest car. « 

Aston Martin went through a difficult set of circumstances to get there, including the budget cap and 2022 car development to be expected. In addition, the team had already chosen to spend their tokens for 2021 when the rules changed, preventing them from working on the back end.

He believes that without these circumstances, Aston Martin F1 would have been able to do better: “We would have done better, for sure. Up to what point, it’s hypothetical, hard to know, but yes, we certainly would have done better.

“Once the changes happened, it was very difficult to get by, mainly because we had to move on to 2022. 2022 is an extremely important year. It was the perfect storm for us at this level- the. »

“The ride height was frozen because we had to use tokens to change the car. We used our tokens on the side impact structure. Then the changes were made on the aero but we couldn’t develop at this place. »