Aston Martin have experienced a spectacular fall from grace in the last eighteen months. After losing their way with last year’s development, Aston are again failing to make meaningful progress in 2024. With upgrades to the AMR24 not working as expected, Fernando Alonso has already spoken about writing off this season. Because of this, the news about Aston Martin’s new wind tunnel being finished is a huge positive.
Aston Martin build for the future
Perhaps the biggest frustration for Aston Martin is that their poor results are detracting from their off-track progress.
The British squad’s project is still immensely impressive. Their partnership with Honda for the 2026 regulations, combined with the construction of other new infrastructure, is evidence of their ambition.
Moreover, these investments from Lawrence Stroll will give the team more autonomy. Rather than relying on Mercedes for engines and a wind tunnel, Aston Martin will completely control their development by 2026.
This makes the latest information from the Silverstone-based operation very significant.
With Adrian Newey potentially joining the team, Aston Martin could become a very formidable prospect over the coming months. Then again, until they take the necessary leap and become a front-running outfit, there will always be doubts.
New wind tunnel and simulator will be ready by year-end
Dan Fallows, technical director at Aston Martin, confirms the team’s progress on their infrastructure:
“The new simulator we have is obviously a state-of-the-art simulator, which will be brought into operation later in the year, as will the wind tunnel,” it.motorsport quotes him as saying.
“Both are massive improvements for us and allow us to do a lot more testing in the way we want to.
“These new tools will give us much more flexibility than we have at the moment. There have been many things that we would have liked to do but have not been able to do because of these limitations…
“The 2026 car will be designed entirely in the new wind tunnel from the beginning of next year.”
Teams are prevented from developing their 2026 cars until January 1st 2025. Therefore, Aston Martin’s latest facilities will be ready for the beginning of their development on the new regulations.
Of course, a new wind tunnel will not automatically solve all the team’s weaknesses.
It would be a gross oversimplification to attribute Aston’s decline exclusively to a faulty correlation with their wind tunnel. As shown on several occasions since the start of 2023, there are still operational deficiencies for the team to address.
McLaren, who are also powered by Mercedes, have proven in recent months that performance must be accompanied by strategic and operational excellence.
