Aston Martin: Closing Red Bull F1 DRS gap an “area of focus”

Aston Martin brought a new package to the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this month, featuring a heavily revised sidepod and floor.

The update enabled Fernando Alonso to take second after a more difficult Spanish Grand Prix, albeit on a low-downforce Circuit Gilles Villeneuve that was more suited to the AMR23.

Its update was mainly focused on efficiency, with the team admitting that Red Bull’s key DRS advantage was something that the Silverstone outfit is trying to close down.

When asked if its Montreal update was partly aimed at having a more efficient DRS device, Aston Martin’s Performance Director Tom McCullough said: “That has been an area of focus for us, so we’re sort of working at that every upgrade we bring to the car.

“It’s all tied to helping the efficiency under the DRS switch so we’re making further steps on that all the time and this is a little step on that.

“Any update on the car is just focused on having more efficient downforce, especially in the areas where maybe we weren’t quite as strong as we were before.

“Maybe some of the updates we’ve got on the car will suit some other tracks even more than they suit [Canada].”

Aston Martin AMR23 sidepod backfill channel

Photo by: Uncredited

As F1 heads to traditional European circuits including Austria’s Red Bull Ring, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, Aston’s high-downforce prowess will be rigorously tested again after it struggled to replicate its street circuit form in Barcelona.

But team boss Mike Krack felt the team had gathered enough evidence to suggest that it will performed better in high-speed corners, of which Canada had none.

“Canada is specific. I said in Barcelona that we should always wait a couple of races to identify really where you are,” Krack said.

“The mix between updates and the track characteristics makes it really difficult to get a clear picture, so the safest thing to say at this point is Red Bull is in front and the other three are close.

“I’m not concerned [about traditional venues] because I think the latest upgrades seem to work.

“There are some tracks coming where you have a lot of high-speed corners and I think we improve in high-speed corners, so actually we’re looking forward to them.

“Because in such circuits, I think we will see the true strength of the Red Bull and also we will have a better indication of how far we are away.”

Krack believes Aston Martin still has a lot to optimise from its current specification as it is unleashed on the Red Bull Ring, which features a mix of low, medium and high-speed corners.

“I think always when you put new parts on the car, you have to do a bit of a little relearning loop, how is your car behaving in different conditions, in different right heights.

“We have a lot to learn and we have to also develop the car further over the next races.”