Aston Martin have started 2024 with a worrying trajectory, and there are no signs of immediate solutions.
The AMR24 has collected 44 points in the first eight rounds of 2024. At this stage twelve months ago, Aston Martin had secured 154 points and were fighting for 2nd in the Championship. This summarises the disastrous development the Silverstone-based team has suffered. It was at last year’s Canadian GP were the ultimately doomed first upgrade package would arrive to Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll’s car. Since then, the situation has only worsened.
Not too long ago, there were clear strengths and weaknesses to identify at Aston Martin. The AMR23 was very competitive in low-speed corners, while it lacked top speed and performance in medium-speed corners. However, the same cannot be said of this year’s challenger.
As Dan Fallows’ technical team worked to eliminate its existing weaknesses, their intervention had the opposite impact. Aston lost its main strengths while simultaneously failing to improve its target areas. Because of this, Lawrence Stroll’s squad is now sliding down the order.
Ineffective upgrades, no clear direction
Ironically, Aston Martin finds itself in the same position its rivals were in last year. Ferrari spent almost an entire season reworking the SF-23 and changing its concept. This process was not easy, but it created the necessary foundations for Ferrari’s 2024 car, which is currently challenging for the Championship.
However, the work done at Silverstone has been far less fruitful. First and foremost, Aston Martin suffers from a significant drop-off in performance between qualifying and race day. This was evident in Bahrain and China, where the AMR24 was at the front on Saturday but couldn’t manage its tyres on Sunday.
Aston’s poor tyre management is a phenomenon new to 2024. This area was once a notable strength for Mike Krack’s personnel.
This reversal in characteristics, which sees better performance in low-fuel than high-fuel running, is indicative of a lack of clarity.
New problems are emerging and old ones persist. Upgrades produced at the Silverstone factory are not correlating well, meaning that the hypothetical downforce seen in the wind tunnel is not replicated on track.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Time running out for Aston Martin
For Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, there cannot be much optimism that fortunes will change soon. Wastefulness is punished in modern F1, and there is no better word to describe the British team’s upgrade programme since 2023.
Ferrari, for example, spent approximately 25% of their mid-season development budget on their Imola package. In the remainder of 2024, moderate upgrades will arrive from Maranello – building upon their new foundation.
Even a conservative estimate would suggest that Aston Martin has used up a reasonable portion of their development funds. Despite this, no clear progress has been made. It will likely take more experimentation for the team to find its bearings.
By the time this happens, they will have likely missed their window to make a meaningful impact – in this year’s Championship and potentially the next one.
