Thread by @JunaidSamodien_

Auto Motor Und Sport - Overall, the Aston Martin AMR23 presented itself as the second best car in the field. Because, unlike Ferrari and Mercedes, it can do everything. The one quick lap and the endurance run. Red Bull is missing about half a second on Saturday and Sunday.

Alonso had to overtake his Ferrari and Mercedes opponents on track after a poor start to celebrate his 99th podium finish. Because the Red Bull reduced the pace in the last ten laps, there is little reliable comparison material.

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In the relevant laps, Alonso constantly loses half a second to the winner. The Spaniard would have preferred not to get out of his Aston Martin at all. "I could have continued for an hour after the checkered flag."

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"Alonso bombards us with questions and suggestions. In his 20th season, he's as hot as if he were just starting in Formula 1," says sports director Andy Stevenson amused. "Fernando is a driver who has everything under control from A to Z," enthuses team boss Mike Krack.

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The cockpit camera speaks volumes. Hardly any car swallows the bumps as calmly as the AMR23. Hardly any is so stable on the brakes. Hardly any has such good traction. Understeer is not an issue. With a few exceptions, the rear sticks to the road.

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"Under certain circumstances, it sometimes breaks out in fast corners, but we can minimize that with the vehicle set-up," reveals an engineer. Only the Red Bull has similar characteristics.

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Aston Martin engineers are already announcing a major upgrade for the sixth race of the season that promises a significant step forward. The wind tunnel rules play a trump card in Aston Martin's hand.

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The championship seventh last year has 37 percent more wind tunnel time than Red Bull, 20 more than Mercedes, 25 more than Ferrari. "Not for long," fears Alonso. In summer there will be a new classification according to the championship status.

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Aston Martin moved up from midfield to the top in one winter. Compared to the qualifying times of 2022, an increase of 2.4 seconds was achieved. Nobody has managed that in the recent history of Formula 1.

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BrawnGP may have come out of nowhere in 2009, but Honda's successor racing team benefited from new regulations and the double diffuser coup that caught the competition on the wrong foot.

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This time the rules remained almost the same. In order to shorten the path to success, the design office set itself extremely ambitious goals. "We wanted the AMR23 to be better than last year's Red Bull in all areas," says an engineer.

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Values ​​determined from GPS data were used. "When we actually surpassed those targets, at first we thought we must have made a mistake."

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Aston Martin got it right. "We now have a good basis for further development," confirms Krack. Red Bull colleague Christian Horner scoffs at the fact that the new opponent was given good marksmanship.

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In 2021, seven Red Bull engineers switched to the green camp, including new technical director Dan Fallows and aerodynamicist Andrew Alessi. Former Mercedes chief aerodynamicist Eric Blandin and other engineers from Brackley also joined.

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The result was a car that was completely rethought and, according to its engineers, also explored some gray areas. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the AMR23 borrows from last year's Red Bull. Other cars do that too.

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The green car still has its own face. You can already see that in the sidepods with the deep gutter, nose and front wing and the opposite suspension geometry front and rear.

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Money alone is not enough. With a factory that is bursting at the seams with 750 employees and where engineers have to work far and wide in portable container offices, with an outdated simulator and a wind tunnel where you only lodge, you win against...

[....] wind tunnel where you only lodge, you win against highly equipped teams like Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes no flower pot in the long run.

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The dependency on Mercedes cannot be permanent either. Aston Martin is only allowed to use the Mercedes wind tunnel on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and loses time when recalibrating. Aston Martin has already refrained from using the competitor's simulator and analysis tools.

Better to be your own boss in a worse simulator than to rent somewhere. The move to a new factory is already in full swing. Building number 1 is ready for occupancy at the end of April. Then almost all engineers will work in an open-plan office the size of a soccer field.

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Fallows calls better communication thanks to shorter distances a game changer for the future: "We are a team that relies a lot on cooperation. That is difficult to do in the current constellation. That will change with the new factory," says Fallows happily.

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The new 360 degree simulator will be assembled at the end of the year. However, it will have to wait until 2024 to be used, until the building around it is finished. The same applies to our own wind tunnel. Technically, Aston Martin is still dependent on Mercedes.

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Engine, gearbox and rear axle come from Brixworth and Brackley. This restricts the designers' freedom in the rear of the car. Krack does not want to make any statement about the future strategic direction of the team.

You don't have to be a prophet to predict that Aston Martin will take more matters into its own hands in the medium term. For many, the racing team from Silverstone is the best landing place for Honda when the new engine formula 2026 arrives.

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In a cooperation with the Japanese, Aston Martin would no longer be a customer team, but a disguised factory team. The change has already taken place in people's minds. All are sworn to unconditional success. In return, Aston Martin has poached the winning teams Red Bull and...

[...] Mercedes in recent years and raised the newcomers to key positions. And they let go of employees who would rather take it easy.

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For CEO Martin Whitmarsh, Aston Martin is not yet a winning team, but at least they are now able to annoy the winning teams. He is convinced: "If we manage to take another half as big a step as we did last winter, then we'll be on the home straight."

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