The 2022 Formula 1 season was expected to see a resurgence of the Aston Martin team, which was thoroughly preparing for a year in which new rules were expected to give the midfield a chance to step up. .
However, at the season-opening Bahrain GP, on a weekend in which the likes of Haas and Alfa Romeo showed significant signs of progress and achieved dream results, Aston Martin stumbled.
Sebastian Vettel’s absence due to COVID, and the need to field his reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg at the last moment did not help matters. The lack of continuity in the car was an unnecessary distraction, but performance was lacking throughout the weekend, even for Lance Stroll, who was familiar with the AMR22 after six days of testing. In the end, Hulkenberg and Stroll qualified 17th and 19th respectively, and on Sunday afternoon they finished 12th and 17th, this time with the Canadian ahead.
As in the case of the other teams that struggled, McLaren and Williams, there is great potential yet to be discovered in the green car. However, doing it in an F1 with cost limits and aerodynamic test restrictions, and with much to learn about how the 2022 chassis and tires interact, will not be a quick job.
The Bahrain Grand Prix was a baptism of fire for new team principal Mike Krack , who joined his role earlier this month after 13 years out of F1.
“Obviously all the teams have their problems,” he said after the race. “So we weren’t 100% where we wanted to be, to be honest. We had to work through every test session, or every winter test, around these issues. I think we weren’t the only ones. So at that point We didn’t really know where we were.”
“When Bahrain qualifying came around, we had the first impression, because it also depends on the way you do the runs, what time of day, what tires you have on, what engine modes you use. It was a surprise, unfortunately negative.”
Krack admitted that losing Vettel was very costly: “We didn’t have any references [before the tests], and suddenly you have to change the driver at the last moment.”
“So that leaves you with only one reference, which is always quite dangerous. It’s difficult for Nico, obviously, to jump in like that, because he doesn’t have any reference either, as he didn’t participate in the tests. So it was a bit blindly. Of course that didn’t help, but still that doesn’t mean the car is fast.”
So what has gone wrong at Aston Martin, and how can the team solve its problems?
For the moment, the most important is that it has suffered more than some of its rivals to overcome the problem of porpoising. He has found a way to reduce it and at least prevent the car from bouncing as much. However, giving the car more ride height means the AMR22 doesn’t perform the way it was designed to.
Technical director, Andrew Green , noted after qualifying that the height of the car and the compromises associated with it are costing three-quarters of a second, even before other performance shortfalls are addressed.
“Andrew [Green] is right to say that, but there are other areas as well,” says Krack. “Obviously, you run with commitments, and at a given moment you have to say to what extent am I still committed?”
“It’s a choice you ultimately have to make. First of all, you have to get the car running reliably, and you can’t have a race if the car bounces around like this.”
“It’s not a fundamental design problem, it’s a problem that everyone has. You can see some teams got it done earlier, got the fix quicker. Others got it later, but if you compare it to the first test in Barcelona, I think the level of porpoising we had here is basically zero.
One of the problems all teams face is that they cannot accurately simulate porpoising in the wind tunnel, partly due to top speed limitations, which are below actual track conditions.
Those restrictions mean taking advantage of Friday free practice to do track research, with less focus on optimizing the car for race weekend.
The team hopes to have some new parts as early as this weekend for the race in Saudi Arabia, but getting them onto the track is not easy.
“What’s costing us now or facing us now is these trips,” says Krack. “Two weeks in a row, or three if you count the test, and then we go to Australia. You have all these logistical hurdles, that if you had three or four events in Europe now, you could just bring pieces and pieces and pieces. So this is a challenge. extra”.
“You have to anticipate shipments and customs, whereas in Europe you can just go to the wind tunnel or develop and manufacture parts, because you have to not forget that these things also have to be manufactured. And here we talk mainly about the flat bottom, and making floors and floor modifications takes a long time.”
Green made it clear at the car launch that the AMR22 has been designed with some flexibility in mind, in case the team found that rivals had found more effective concepts and had to copy them. However, it will not be easy to make a change of direction that is significant.
“From a concept standpoint, I think it’s going to be difficult,” admits Krack. “But this is a team that has done this job for many, many years.
“They knew where they had to put the flexibility in the basic concept, to be able to adjust it, and in other areas we can be less oriented towards commitment. I think we still have all the options open.”
Another challenge of the development battle is that the team is learning all the time. Even as new parts are being built, different directions are found that may have more potential. It’s a tricky balancing act.
“This is the critical part,” says Krack. “Because every time the car starts up you have a new analysis, and you have new data, but sometimes this data is in the opposite direction to what you had thought.”
“So it could be that you’ve gone in one direction but you need to change, while the pieces are already being done. You’re constantly juggling: have we made the right decision? Because, also, with the cost cap you can’t have five tracks. different parallels.
“From that point of view, we cannot forget that we are still a small team, we cannot do parallel developments.”
There is an area that is out of the team’s hands. It was hard to miss the fact that, quite early in the Bahrain race, all six Mercedes-powered customer cars had been placed at the back of the pack, and indeed they were in the final standings.
“This is an observation we made quite early on,” says Krack. “But on the other hand we see that the Mercedes factory team finished third and fourth today, so with this power unit, a good job can still be done.”
“And I think the most important thing for us is that we build a proper car, or faster, before we get too into what you’re looking at. It’s true what you say, but I think the rivals have maybe taken a bigger step, And that’s something we have to achieve.”
The team’s technical department has been beefed up a lot since last year around this time, with former Red Bull man Dan Fallows arriving soon. It’s clear he’ll have a good idea of where the RB18 was before his contract ran out, but Krack says the main thing is the skill set he brings to the table.
“I think having someone like Dan will be a huge advantage. I don’t think because of what he knows about Red Bull, but because of his personality and his technical experience.”
“So we are looking forward to it in two weeks. I think we should not assimilate it with his work at Red Bull, but with the person and his technical skills.”
For Krack himself, Bahrain has not been the start he would have liked, and his only consolation has been that other teams are also struggling, notably McLaren, led by his friend and former WEC Porsche teammate Andreas Seidl .
The latter has done a great job of turning McLaren around in the last two years, and now Krack wants to try to do the same.
“It will take a while,” he says. “But I have to say that the team is very open. From the first day I have had very good conversations, I have gone into the technical details, which I think is very important, that what is happening is understood, so that we can take direction. correct.
“I’d be lying if I said I’m on top of everything. But I’d say it’s been a pretty good two weeks. The learning curve isn’t flat, this much I can say.”
