Revealed: The curious case of Aston Martin and their complex AMR24 upgrade plan

The 2024 season so far has been a real rollercoaster, with unexpected ups and downs for teams compared to last season.

For Aston Martin, it is a season that has provided more questions than answers.

Aston Martin’s technical journey so far

Aston Martin had an underwhelming start to the season (25 points for the team in the first three races). In an attempt to fix things, their engineers brought their first major (probably the biggest this season) upgrade in Japan.

Besides visible changes in the sidepod geometry, the most significant part of this package was the changes under the car and at the edges of the floor.

The redesigned sidepods aimed to create a more efficient downwash of the air flowing over the upper edge of the sidepods. In theory, better downwash increases the speed of the air that later flows to the rear of the car.

Faster air automatically means lower pressure, which significantly helps in efficiently merging the airflow under the floor and above the diffuser, further increasing the floor’s efficiency.

As we know, in today’s Formula 1 era, this is one of the main tasks for the teams’ engineers, as the car’s floor is potentially the most powerful weapon for good performance.

However, the changes under the car in Japan were supposed to be the most crucial, at least in theory, as this package did not bring the expected result.

Interestingly, Aston Martin was the team that improved the most compared to Suzuka 2023, but this seems to be more due to their performance last year rather than the upgrades.

Changes were also visible at the edges of the floor, which was expected because changes of this type usually come in pairs with underbody changes.

However, the poor results continue, and the way out of the problem is still not in clear sight. It seems that Aston Martin’s engineers did not fully understand the response of the new upgrades on the track, resulting in a further drop in performance.

After Japan, there followed a tough period where it took Aston Martin seven races to score a total of 25 points.

The only good race for the team was in Canada, where Alonso finished in P6 and Stroll was P7. They hadn’t had such poor results since the beginning of the 2022 season when their team looked completely different.

Meanwhile, the engineers are still working primarily on understanding the problem. A new upgrade package arrived in Italy, where the biggest changes were visible on the front wing.

The car’s nose completely changed its shape, and along with minor changes to the first plane of the front wing, it significantly closed the gap between the first and second element.

There was also a new opening, likely used for driver cooling. An interesting detail of this package was the previously unseen V-shape detail on the last two elements of the front wing. It seems that Aston Martin tried to create vortex generators at these points whilst staying within the rules. The potential vortex would later help channel the dirty air from the front tyres.

The endplate was also changed, now having a free rear edge without any flap attached, creating another vortex generator with the same function.

The front wing is a crucial aerodynamic element, and many problems actually stem from it. In the case of Mercedes, we saw that minor changes to this element were enough to transform the W15 into a completely different car. Unfortunately, Aston Martin did not manage to do the same.

During the European tour in the second quarter of the season, the British team seemed closer to fighting with VCARB than with the leading quartet.

One of the biggest problems they faced was race pace, as they were satisfactorily fast on a single lap. The car’s balance was problematic and they struggled with understeer on tracks with longer corners.

The positive side was their top speed, where they truly excelled. In the race in Canada, their best race of the season, this characteristic paid off. Combined with short corners where the car’s poor balance was less noticeable, the British team managed to secure valuable points.

However, things changed drastically in the last two races, to the extent that they were definitely the slowest on the straights in Belgium, where they are quite long. The answer to such strange car behaviour might lie in their latest upgrades seen at the Hungaroring.

Once again, Aston Martin changed the car’s floor, hoping that things would improve this time. Already in Hungary, we saw that the Silverstone-based team was slow on the straights, which could mean their upgrades are not working. Usually, teams that fail to design a powerful and efficient car floor seek additional downforce in the rear wing, resulting in higher drag.

Will Aston Martin find a solution?

It is clear that the engineers do not have a clear picture of what is actually happening with the car, and every new update brings only more questions.

On several occasions, the drivers have pointed out that the AMR24 is very difficult to drive because its behaviour is simply unpredictable. Consequently, it is almost impossible to consistently be on the edge, resulting in poorer performance.

The problem they face is very complex, and although a lot of time has passed since the introduction of the new regulations, some teams are still trying to fully understand the concept. Too many technical factors must perfectly align for the floor to work efficiently.

In Aston Martin’s case, it is very strange that the team, which at one point last season was the biggest rival to Red Bull, now finds itself in this position. Given their form in the last two races, it seems things will not get better soon.

The next race is the Dutch Grand Prix, a track that is very demanding in terms of car balance. Here we have long corners of different types, which do not suit Aston Martin based on the current characteristics of the car.

After that, the next two races are Monza and Azerbaijan, where maximum speed is crucial. Of course, it is too difficult to predict a team’s performance, but the facts suggest that it will be a big surprise if Aston Martin is competitive with the top teams.

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