Fernando Alonso of the Aston Martin F1 Team AMR24 acknowledges that the team is fully aware of the balance issues plaguing their 2024 Formula 1 car. Despite initially showing promise as Red Bull’s closest competitor last season, Aston Martin slipped to fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship. While they have maintained their position this season, they are now facing pressure from both RB and Haas in recent races. However, their efforts to close the gap to the leading teams suffered a setback at Imola when boss Mike Krack admitted that updates had made their car challenging to drive.
Alonso had a disastrous weekend at the Italian venue, crashing in FP3 and being eliminated in Q1, which turned his race into a mere test session. His teammate, Lance Stroll, revealed that the AMR24 has more limitations compared to its predecessor, affecting its overall competitiveness. Stroll mentioned experiencing issues such as entry oversteer, corner understeer, kerb riding, and other aspects that still need improvement. He also noted that the 2024 car presents a trickier balance compared to the previous year’s model.
When asked if he shared the same assessment with the engineers, Alonso confirmed that both he and Stroll have similar feelings about the car and have provided similar feedback. They have been testing various setup tools and directions, including some conducted at Imola, to address the issues. However, they believe that the team needs to continue working on the car’s balance. Despite adding downforce with the upgrades, they are unable to fully utilize it efficiently in terms of lap time due to the imperfect balance in the corners.
“But I believe we comprehend this. We have a few ideas that, you know, in the next phase of the vehicles and enhancements, we will attempt to rectify those types of issues.
“So, yes, I mean, we are not ignorant to the unknown. You know, we are cognizant of the circumstance.
“But at the same time, it is also the inherent nature of these vehicles that, you know, as you increase downforce, they become slightly more crucial and more challenging to operate.
“Yes, and this is something that we need to address.”
Alonso has confessed that testing the advancements on the simulator was not comparable to a genuine track experience as the former can mask potential obstacles.
“The simulator is somewhat more, let’s say pardons you for many of the things that the track does not,” he explained.
“And when you input the numbers, the theoretical numbers on the simulator, you simply become faster without too many difficulties, you know, on balances, something like that.
“So the simulator is a fantastic tool for the engineers, for the drivers to learn tracks and things like that.
“But for the final detail of the setup or the final behavior on track, I believe the simulator is still not as accurate as the real car, so yes, we need to work on Friday, Saturday on that.”
Meanwhile, Stroll conceded that it presented a challenging task with the current ground effect vehicles to strike a balance between an optimal equilibrium and increasing downforce.
Questioned on whether adding performance through downforce gains was part of the solution to refine the balance, Stroll answered: “It’s both. I mean, that’s Formula One.
“That’s how the development works. You attempt to get the car as balanced as possible and add as much downforce as you can. So, same thing over here.”