Formula 1 | Vettel ‘opened our eyes’ says Aston Martin F1 technical director

The AMR21 will remain a frank disappointment for Aston Martin F1: from 3rd force last year in pure performance, the team became 7th (or even worse on some Grands Prix), a good half a second behind Ferrari, McLaren and AlphaTauri, the midfield leaders.

It goes without saying that as for Mercedes (the Aston remaining very inspired by its German model), the aerodynamic regulations, with the modifications of the flat bottom, heavily affected the Greens.

Andy Green, the technical director, confirms and gives an estimate of the lost time.

“We lost between 1.5 and 2s and we only recovered half of it. « 

Green goes on to point out that Aston Martin F1 has been stuck in its development, and stuck in a tricky choice of car philosophy.

“We had a rear which was actually homologated. « 

“We couldn’t lift the car, we were effectively stuck, but all of our simulations and all of our analyzes were telling us that we just had to lift the car and get it out of that area. « 

With no hope of turning the tables, Aston Martin F1 quickly gave up on car development (the latest evolution happened at Paul Ricard) to focus on next year’s new regulations.

« We were locked into a solution because we were effectively forced to move to the year 2022 earlier. »

“If we had had another season with this rule, I am more than confident that we would have been able to come out and find more performance. « 

The Vettel effect

But this year was also useful, for Green, despite everything. And in particular thanks to the arrival of Sebastian Vettel, a quadruple world champion who has made the team grow behind the scenes.

“He opened our eyes and it’s a great way of working that we adopted. « 

“He brought a tremendous amount of experience to the team and professionalism to the way we operate, not only on the track but also at the factory. It just shows us the way you have to operate and the way you have to do everything right. « 

“The level of detail that you have to achieve in each area to be able to win races and championships is amazing and I think that’s what he showed us, the amount of work it takes to tick each box. To keep everything perfect, but also to go through all the scenarios, all of the what-ifs, and make sure all of those areas are checked. « 

“So it’s not just about the absolute goal at the moment, but all the strategy scenarios, tires, making sure that all of these elements are covered as well, so that when they occur during of a race weekend, you have a plan. « 

“We take this opportunity to learn and make us a better team. When we get out of this situation and get back into the performance zone, we really believe that we will come out of it as a better team. «