How Aston Martin have been held back by Mercedes in F1 2023
The Silverstone-based outfit have made unprecedented gains over the winter, with their race pace in the Saudi Arabia꧅n Grand Prix, on average, three seconds quicker than 12 months ago.
Their decision to abando🏅n their initial car concept and follow Red Bull’s at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix proved to be a masterstroke.
Aston Martin steadil🍎y improved in 2022, nearly beatin𝄹g Alfa Romeo to sixth in the constructors’ championship.
No one could see their rapid rate of improvement being this good, moving from being the sixth𝐆-best team to now eclipsing Ferrari and Mercedes as the second-best.
Much has been mဣade of Aston Martin’s AMR23, with a number of key Red Bull personnel making jokes about 🌌how it resembles their own car.
While there are some s💎imilarities to the Red Bull, Aston Martin still rely on Mercedes for a number of parts - power 💫unit, gearbox and rear suspension.
Effectively, the majority of the re💛ar end of the AMR23 is Mercedes-built.
According to Italian website Formul1a.uno, Mercedes’ gearbox design is holding Aston Martin back in outrigh🃏t per꧑formance.
The Mercedes version is bulkier relative to the Red Bu🌳ll and thus limits thꩲe airflow to the Aston Martin rear diffuser.
Ultimately, havin🥂g a less efficient diffuser costs you downfo🐟rce meaning Aston Martin have to run more rear wing, generating more drag in the process.
The main limitation of the AMR23 is its str🐼aight-line spꦡeed relative to the Red Bull.
At the end of 2022, technical director Dan🔯 Fallows dismissed suggestions that being aligned with Mercedes would impact the t♎eam negatively.
"I think we're pretty open-minded about that kind of thing," he said. "What this team has gained from its relationship with Mercedes has been immense, and as we move into the future and do things our own way, we're mindful that we have to do them at least as w♋ell and if not better than they do.
"That is a capability that you have to🐲 build up before we can even talk about making those decisions෴."
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and stor🦂ylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
