Adrian Newey has delivered his initial verdict on the heavily revised Aston Martin AMR26 that debuted in FP1 at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
All eyes in the paddock centred on Aston Martin on Friday as its revised car made its on-track debut in a bid to transform its underperforming season.
Featuring 16 upgrades that include new rear and front wings, diffuser, and sidepods, Friday’s practice sessions were effectively data-gathering sessions.
A metaphorical spanner in the works came in the form of suspension failure for Lance Stroll in FP1, the team reduced to relying on Fernando Alonso’s data as Stroll did not run in FP2 as a result of the damage.
As much as five seconds adrift of the frontrunners in terms of pace recent races, Alonso ended FP1 just 2.4 seconds away from the leading time, the gap increasing slightly to 2.9 seconds in FP2.
After FP1, Newey gave his initial verdict, calling the results “promising”.
“Very early days in terms of understanding the new package. Provisional results are promising,” he said in the Team Principal’s press conference.
“It’s only part of the package. We will have some more steps in Zandvoort, Monza and Baku, so it is the first part of our planned upgrade. Very short on parts so being careful with it and trying to learn all about it.”
“It’s an evolution in as much as the chassis is the same, the layout’s the same, front suspension’s the same. So, it’s very much an aerodynamic evolution,” Newey added.
“We were very short on time research time prior to launch of the car back in at Barcelona in February.
“So, it’s really been a matter of taking a step back, trying to understand, and go forward with this package.”
Package goals for Aston Martin?
Newey has denied that set goals are attached to the heavily revised car, explaining his rationale of patience.
“I’ve never been a fan of setting goals,” he said.
“Much more a fan of working logically through problems, getting everybody working together, getting a culture together, and then at that point, you end up where you end up.
“What I have found over the years is when you’re not winning, it seems an impossible mountain to climb. When you are winning, sometimes you’re not sure how you got there, because you’re not actually doing anything different, or you don’t feel as if you’re doing anything different.”
Newey confirmed that Aston Martin has yet to determine the cause of Stroll’s suspension failure, though he added vital context about which part failed.
“Everybody is feverishly trying to understand what went wrong and it is only once we have an understanding that we can comment on what we do next.
“The area involved is not what has been changed, so in that sense it was very unexpected.”
Newey is justifiably keeping his cards close to his chest on upgrades to the AMR26, with the stopwatch in qualifying to provide a definitive answer on their impact.
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