It was eagerly awaited to see how Aston Martin’s “green Red Bull” would do on its Formula 1 debut in Barcelona – but the high expectations could not be met.
In qualifying, Sebastian Vettel (16th) and Lance Stroll (18th) retired in Q1, and in the race they both finished P11 and P15.
Nevertheless, team boss Mike Krack is optimistic that the completely renewed car with the Red Bull-like sidepods will be successful in the further course of the season, because: “The data are very promising. In qualifying we didn’t succeed in what we had planned to get out of the car. But it’s a step forward.”
There are several reasons why the potential of the new parts could not be developed in Barcelona. First, there were reliability issues. Secondly, some parts had to be re-amplified during the weekend. Third, the cooling was at its limit, which is why the aerodynamically disadvantageous slits in the bodywork had to be opened wide.
Excessive heat led to severe oversteer
“It was hotter than expected. That threw us off balance,” admits Krack. With the new package, one has not yet had any experience at 35 degrees Celsius or more and therefore ultimately “fished in the dark” as far as the set-up is concerned. Consequence: “More oversteer than predicted. That caught us on the wrong foot.”
“The middle field is so close together from P7 to P15. If you make a small mistake or have a small problem, you’re gone immediately. If everything goes smoothly, you move into Q3, get used to the car, and then the world will see the whole look different.”
Despite the sobering Barcelona result, Krack is convinced: “We’ve taken a small step. But we still have to explore the package a little better. We can look to the future with optimism.”
Like starting over with a new car
Given the limited testing and training opportunities in modern Formula 1, the fact that it was not immediately possible to turn the theoretical potential of the car into reality is quite normal. Because with the update “the whole direction changes,” explains Krack.
“It’s not like we screw on this update and that’s it. We have to learn how to best use it first because the properties are very different. And then we have to do it for Monaco, for Baku, for Canada and then for develop Silverstone further.”
Krack: “We don’t copy Red Bull”
By the way: The accusation that Aston Martin simply copied the Barcelona update from Red Bull or even illegally acquired data from Red Bull’s intellectual property, as suggested by Helmut Marko, Krack does not let his team sit.
“We don’t copy Red Bull. We build our own car,” he reacts angrily when asked whether it wouldn’t be smart to copy Red Bull’s suspension now, so that it fits better with Aston Martin’s new side box concept.
Krack underlines that Aston Martin goes its own way, with a concrete example: “At first we had completely different wishbones than now. They weren’t that good aerodynamically, but they gave the driver more feedback.” And he asks, “So why should we copy them?”
And further: “Our small wing on the underside of the chassis was also copied by others. We could have been upset about that. But we weren’t. It has always been the case in Formula 1 that you can be inspired by small details. But you can’t copy the whole concept of a car. It doesn’t work.”