There is still a question mark over the extent of Aston Martin’s participation in this week’s Barcelona shakedown. The British team communicated on Monday their intention to run the AMR26 on Thursday and Friday.
Given that teams are allocated three days of running, this news was confirmation of Aston’s delays in getting to the Catalunya circuit. Still, provided they manage to complete two efficient testing programmes, they can still collect some important data.
Aside from these logistical delays, a series of ambitious decisions taken by Adrian Newey – impacting both aerodynamics and power unit design – will make the Silverstone operation’s track time intriguing to observe.
Honda confirm radical design at Newey’s request
When Newey was at the helm of Red Bull’s Technical Team, taking risks were seen as standard procedure. The 67-year-old would frequently push the limits of the regulations – whilst also finding interpretations that other simply missed.
This kind of bold thinking is often a requirement in order to win Championships. At the same time, going bold also increases the chances of something going wrong.
Still, Adrian Newey’s approach over the winter break has been one of high-risk. This is partly why Aston Martin will assemble the AMR26 in Barcelona slightly behind schedule.
The British engineer prefers to bring the most sophisticated package to testing as possible, even if it means a reduction in laps completed. In 2010, Red Bull deliberately missed testing in Valencia – instead preferring to optimise their aerodynamic and mechanical platform.
As mentioned previously on LWOS, there is logic to this brave philosophy. After all, no matter how efficient and productive a test is, the car circulating on track must be competitive.
If teams produce a fundamentally slow car, no amount of testing will extract performance that isn’t there. For Adrian Newey, the priority is to use as much time as possible to develop an advanced machine.
Partly because of this, Newey has been in regular communication with Honda. The team’s decision to move Andy Cowell from position of team principal to Chief Strategist was inspired by the intense collaboration between Aston and the Japanese manufacturer.
Satoshi Tsunoda, responsible for Honda’s engine development, has discussed some of the modifications made at Newey’s request:
“As we were developing the new car,” as-web.jp quotes him as saying. “The team requested that we make it as compact as possible and as short [in length] as possible. So we decided on a two-tier design.
“The appearance of the battery hasn’t changed much since last year, but we’ve created a completely new battery inside. I think this will contribute to our competitiveness to some extent.”
