Aston Martin F1 Team technical director Dan Fallows says the 2023 AMR23 F1 car will have ‘major differences’ from this year’s car.
The Aston Martin AMR23 is the first model developed under former Red Bull boss Dan Farrows, who joined the team in April this year, and former Mercedes aerodynamics boss Eric Blandin.
This year’s AMR22 was designed to be reconceptualized and developed extensively throughout the season. Dan Farrows has hinted that the 2023 car will take another step forward.
“That means there’s a limit to what you can do with the current rules,” said Dan Farrows.
“New cars always have to pass my kids’ test. If you put them in front of your kids and they say they look different, then they look different.”
“They always say, ‘It all looks the same, Dad!’ But within the rules document, AMR23 has a big difference.”
Floor changes introduced by the FIA to deal with porpashing and bouncing forced all F1 teams to pursue bigger changes than they had planned.
“The new floor regulations aren’t really a big change,” said Dan Fallows.
“But in terms of the downforce that the car can produce, it’s significantly reduced. So we had to try to overcome that deficit like everyone else.”
“I think it’s hard to say whether some teams will suffer more than others, but for us it was definitely a big downforce issue.”
“But what the FIA wants is what we want. It will help remove the aerodynamic wobble that everyone is so anxious about.”
Dan Farrows has admitted that Aston Martin’s leap from ninth to seventh in the constructors’ championship in the second half of the year shows that the team is on a good development path.
“This has been a big factor in building our confidence for next year,” said Dan Fallows.
“We started the season with a car that was clearly not where we wanted it to be. It shows it’s profitable.”
“What we’re trying to do next year is have a very aggressive development strategy that builds on this year’s lessons.”
Dan Farrows says he was impressed with what he found at Aston Martin after several years at Red Bull Racing.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve been happy with the level of technical conversation. In terms of how we operate and develop our cars, this team has grown from relatively small to ambitious to its current size. And I think we’ve grown to the scale what we want to achieve”.
“And it’s a journey that can really add value to what I’ve seen, and with Eric Blandin coming in at the same time, adding that kind of clarity of purpose, clarity of direction. I think that’s what we’re building on.”
“What I saw was a very passionate and very talented group of people, some of whom have been here a long time and have a lot of experience.”
“So the important thing for us is to make sure we use that experience and that passion and try to grow it into a winning team, but not destroy it.”
Category: F1 / aston martin
