Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough says the Silverstone-based outfit has earmarked aerodynamic efficiency as a major priority for its future AMR24 contender.
Aston is currently fourth in F1's Constructors' standings following a remarkable string of performances in the first half of 2023 that included six podiums claimed by Fernando Alonso.
While the team’s results have exceeded its expectations, its AMR23 car is still missing an element of versatility as its strength remains high-downforce tracks and slow-speed corners, which implies an overall lack of aero efficiency.
At Monza, Fernando Alonso was never a force to be reckoned with for a podium, the Spaniard concluding his race at the Temple of Speed in ninth position while teammate Lance Stroll ended his day a lowly P16.
Alonso has repeatedly urged Aston Martin to address its car’s lack of efficiency and McCullough
wholeheartedly agrees that this should be a top priority for 2024.
"Fernando touched on the efficiency of the car," said McCullough at Monza. “It is an area where at the start of the year we were definitely one of the slower cars in the straight line.
"We worked on that with the base car, and also the rear wing levels that we brought [to Monza]. It's an area of improvement, and it is an area we need to improve more for next year, that's clear."
Delving into the challenges Aston Martin endured at Monza last time out, McCullough highlighted the difficulties teams typically face on such layouts as the search for the best compromise between cornering performance and straight-line speed.
"You can choose the rear wing level to be fast in the high-speed grip limited corners," he explained.
It's really important, because the second Lesmo, Ascari and Parabolica have got very long straights after them.
"So you're always trading speed through those corners versus your raceability and straight-line speed.
"Obviously sector one particularly in qualifying is one low-speed corner and just lots of straights, or power-limited sections, that are easily flat.
"I think this generation are cars and the characteristics of people's cars has led to a bit of a difference in rear wing philosophy."
As Aston channels most of its resources towards next year’s AMR24, changes to its current machine will be few and far between. However, most of F1’s upcoming venues won’t enhance aero efficiency according to McCullough.
"The main architecture of the car, the whole car more than just the rear wings, the areas that we've worked on, there are a lot of elements that contribute to the efficiency of the car," explained the British engineer.
"And from now until the end of the season most of the tracks are not the higher efficiency tracks.
"Our focus is really on AMR24, to make sure that as we're developing that car we are developing as efficiently as we can do, and more efficiently than this year's car."
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