Soon the end of the tunnel for Aston Martin?

After a year 2023 full of hope, Aston Martin suffered the blow in this first part of the 2024 campaign. The podiums that Fernando Alonso used to play last year are now impossible to achieve. A drop in performance which is a continuation of a difficult second part of the 2023 season where the Silverstone team failed to take the right direction in terms of development.

With AMR24, the Greens hoped to overcome these difficulties but the new car proved to be just as inefficient in terms of performance as the latest version of the AMR23. It certainly remains capable of playing for points like their 5th place in the championship with 39 points ahead of 6th, RB, but it is incapable of competing against the McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes et Red Bull, and consequently to fight for podiums like the 193 lengths behind the 4th, Mercedes.

The first developments made at Imola should allow them to relaunch a green machine far from the expectations of big boss Lawrence Stroll. Unfortunately, it turned out to be almost ineffective and the results did not take off as expected.

« We honestly expected more, admits Mike Krack, the main team. We knew there was a gap to the cars in front of us and it was difficult to close it. We haven't gotten there yet, and until we get there, we can't be happy.."

Optimism for the second part

However, Aston Martin has no intention of giving up. On the contrary. The second big salvo of developments introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July gave hope to the English ranks, to the point of being optimistic for the resumption in the Netherlands in a few weeks (August 23-25).

« We were worried because our developments before Hungary did not have the expected results, recognizes the Luxembourg leader. But the last ones worked, so I am confident and I can say that we are in the right direction. We have taken a new approach with the car and we are making progress.

From a technical point of view, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have confidence in our engineers, in our performance development but also in terms of aerodynamics. We are on the right track and we will have a better second half of the season. I don't usually make such bold statements, but we know what we have. » Hoping that it works for them because the end of the season could then be very long.

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