Aston Martin’s performance deficit in Formula 1 is significantly impacted by chassis issues, according to a senior source. More than half of Aston Martin’s deficit to the front is caused by the chassis.
Chassis Performance Impacting Aston Martin’s Speed
GPS data indicates other teams are seeing the impact of the chassis on the car’s speed on different parts of the track. It’s difficult to determine the exact split in losses between the car and engine. The engine’s behaviour can affect the car’s cornering performance.
The public focus has largely been on the Honda engine and its severe vibrations that have been causing reliability problems. Team principal Adrian Newey has stated that the car is also lacking.
Newey’s Assessment of Chassis Capabilities
The source questions if the vibrations are intrinsic to the engine, or if the engine’s mounting to the chassis exacerbates them. Newey said in Australia that the team are maybe the fifth best team on the chassis side. He added that the team had the potential to be up front at some point in the season.
Across four qualifying sessions, the Aston Martin is 3.6 seconds off the pace. Alpine is the fifth fastest team, at 1.268secs off the pace, followed by Haas at 1.567secs. Aston Martin are about 2.3secs off qualifying in the top 10, with the majority down to the chassis and the rest the engine.
Putting a Mercedes engine in the car would place them about where Alpine or Haas are. This aligns with Newey’s suggestion.
Development Challenges and Car Weaknesses
The Aston Martin had a troubled start, effectively starting again when Newey arrived in March last year. There was a delayed entry into the wind tunnel until April, and a consequent compressed development programme, which sounds entirely feasible.
- The car is overweight.
- It is especially poor in high-speed corners.
Fernando Alonso finished 18th in the Japanese Grand Prix, ahead of Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams’ Alex Albon. Lance Stroll failed to finish the race.
Formula 1 is taking a break from racing during April because of the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.