In the round-up: Aston Martin plan to carry the momentum from their strong start to the 2023 season into next year.
In brief
Aston Martin already have 2024 in their development sights
Aston Martin’s strong start to the 2023 season, including four podiums from the first five grands prix, has freed up to think about next year’s car earlier than usual.
The design and development of the chassis they create for next season is unlikely to start until after the team moves into its new factory, which is due to begin this month. The team’s technical director Dan Fallows says looking forward to continuing the development of this year’s Aston Martin AMR23 into its successor as soon as he can.
“We definitely want to start next’s year car as early as we possibly can. The game really for us is to make sure that we don’t sacrifice this year’s car,” he said.
“Inevitably it will be a form of evolution of this year’s car. So everything we can do to get data, to get updates on this year’s car will certainly inform it. But yes, we will be looking to start as early as possible.”
With no major rules changes confirmed yet for the 2024 season, the AMR23’s successor will be an “evolutionary step”, says Fallows. However he said the team “don’t want to be any less aggressive with the way we go about developing this car than we were going into this year.”
Alpine’s Doohan fastest on first day of F2 testing
Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan was fastest on the first day of Formula 2’s in-season test at Barcelona, which concludes this Friday.The two Wednesday sessions marked the first time that drivers were able to experience the new configuration of the circuit which removes the final chicane. As a result, lap times were significantly faster than in previous years, and Alpine junior Doohan led the way by 0.447 seconds over Prema’s Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman.
Frederik Vesti (Prema), Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin) and Amaury Cordeel (Virtuosi) filled the next positions. Sixth overall was Campos Racing’s Kush Maini, with the time which put him on top at the end of the morning session.
There were two red flag stoppages during the day, caused by MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger going into the gravel in the morning and Carlin’s Zane Maloney spinning in the afternoon.
F1 Academy stays in Valencia for extra test days
The Formula 4-spec F1 Academy series followed up their races in Valencia last weekend by testing at the track this week.
Campos driver Nerea Marti who set the pace, lapping fastest in all four sessions. However she finished the test with a gap of just 0.018s to MP’s Hamda Al Qubaisi. ART Grand Prix’s Lena Buhler was third fastest, and Prema’s championship leader Marta Garcia was fifth having covered the most laps of anyone.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Miami GP organisers exploring future night race possibility (Racer)
'The organisers of the Miami Grand Prix have held tentative discussions about changing the event to a night race at some stage in future.'
Stroll explains ‘pissed off’ Miami GP weekend (Speedcafe)
'Stroll finished 12th, just two seconds outside of a points-paying top-ten finish. 'It’s great for the team but I’m pretty pissed off at my weekend,' said Stroll. 'I didn’t score points, I wanted more out of it.''
F1 drivers criticise Miami’s pre-race pomp. Vegas show may be bigger (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
'The stars of F1 stood under the hot Florida sun mingling with LL Cool J, the chosen A-list celebrity tasked with hosting an elaborate pre-race ceremony ahead of the Miami GP. The festivities in the 30 minutes leading up to the race featured a new single by Will.i.am created specifically for F1. It was all so very American. And it irked many of the F1 stars.'
G4 Racing fighting to keep Belov after team’s strong start in FREC (Formula Scout)
'Michael Belov made a surprise return to Formula Regional Europe at Imola with G4 Racing, which is working to run him in further races. Belov took two victories with G4 in a part-season in 2021, and team principal Patrick Gnos is seeking sponsorship to continue to run him after using 'our own money' to put him in the car for Imola.'
Marc Priestley's fan experience at Miami GP (Linkedin)
'As a trackside fan I found it frustrating not being able to see a screen clearly or hear commentary well & with limited network coverage, my phone couldn’t help. The event could’ve definitely done a better job on that front.'
F1 23 brings the world's biggest motorsport back to PC VR this June (Upload VR)
'F1 23 will only support VR on PC.'
Oscar Piastri: Live from Miami (YouTube)
'The F1R The Girls podcast speaks with McLaren driver Oscar Piastri ahead of the Miami GP. Oscar talks about what it means to be racing in the USA for the first time, the advantages of being the youngest driver on the grid, his favourite track, and much more. Tune in to hear some rapid fire hot takes.'
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it to us via the contact form.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Maybe Next Year @SChecoPerez, @MaxVerstappenB1 is just a better @redbullracing @redbullracingES than you 🏎️🏁 pic.twitter.com/5qCi9WBcgr
— MR. 🅿️ROLIFIC (@iamelpizo) May 8, 2023
🤬 "I'M NOT STUPID, I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING!'
Frustrations grew as @JakeDennis19 struggled to find a way through at the #MonacoEPrix. pic.twitter.com/GdIssGXmuW
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) May 10, 2023
🦘💨@kamui_kobayashi @KCMGJapan @KCMotorgroup #sformula #superformula #Motorsports#SF23 pic.twitter.com/tb4Lky41Pt
— スーパーフォーミュラ公式 (@SUPER_FORMULA) May 10, 2023
Took a few people who have helped me on my journey so far to Bedford Autodrome to give them a taste of what it’s like behind the wheel.
Great day out and a brilliant laugh. My bro was very happy to come home with a trophy too. 🤣 Big thanks to @Palmer_Sport for hosting us! pic.twitter.com/nw2Y2wVR3k
— George Russell (@GeorgeRussell63) May 10, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner saw no issue with F1’s new driver introduction ceremony at the Miami GP, but conceded it would not work in all markets. F1 plans to use it at up to eight grands prix this year, but has not said if they will follow a similar ‘American-ised’ format as was used in Miami.
America is not a new market for F1, it has been here for decades. F1 isn’t a US sport, it is an international sport. The NFL doesn’t change what it does when it plays in Europe or Mexico, why would F1 change when it races in America? If you are constantly changing for each market, you have lost your brand identity.
Leroy
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to 130R and Sushant008!
On this day in motorsport
SteveR (@stever)
11th May 2023, 0:47
If the Miami ‘introduction’ is any indication, Las Vegas (with no support races at all) is going to be a travesty of a mockery of a sham.
Nick T.
11th May 2023, 2:38
Vegas is so trashy it even makes Miami look tasteful. Disappointing that despite living in Los Angeles, Montreal and Mexico City are still the only North American races I attend. Been doing Montreal since 2008. Such a great town and venue.
tielemst
11th May 2023, 9:05
The Apollo Creed introduction in Rocky 4 kind of thing?
asd
11th May 2023, 11:58
More like WWE mixed with Rio di Janeiro’s new year’s parade.
Jere (@jerejj)
11th May 2023, 5:47
Having already read about the matter in the Racer article elsewhere on race day, such a format for Miami GP would, of course, mean a similar local timing to LV GP, albeit with three hours less time difference to European zones, finding a decent compromise would be harder.
Ultimately, moving to floodlighting would make little sense, not to mention this year’s weekend wasn’t even bad with high-20s during the sessions.
The inaugural event was a bit warmer, but not unbearably warmer.
I agree with the COTD & would add NHL & NBA(?) in the mix when they play in Europe or, in the former’s case, also Asia & even Australia in the future.
slowmo (@slowmo)
11th May 2023, 8:43
If Aston Martin try to move onto the 2024 car too early they will be easily swallowed up by Mercedes and Ferrari developments by the summer. I think there is probably more benefit for them as a team to learn to keep up with the big teams on development throughout the season as that will be critical if the team is to ever take a serious step towards challenging for titles. Mind you they’d have to sack Lance if they were ever serious about going for a championship imo.
RandomMallard
11th May 2023, 9:11
@slowmo The big advantage Aston Martin have at the moment, if they were to start their 2024 development right now, is that between now and the end of June, they have a huge advantage in the wind tunnel and CFD allowances compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and most of all Red Bull. I’m actually quite surprised Aston haven’t started their 2024 development already considering how much of an advantage that extra aero time could give them, even if they were splitting it between upgrades for this year’s car and development for next year.
RandomMallard
11th May 2023, 9:20
As it stands, they are set to lose most of that advantage at (roughly) the end of June, when the aero testing allocation is updated to reflect the standings in the championship at that point in time (they currently receive 100% of the base line allocation, but if they remain in 2nd place in the constructor’s championship, where they currently sit, that will drop to 75%).
Todfod (@todfod)
11th May 2023, 15:56
Didn’t know that.
I believe in Lance enough to know that he can take Aston Martin lower in the standings. He just has that natural ability. He stands a chance of taking Aston to P4 by the end of June, but Sainz will make sure that doesn’t happen.
slowmo (@slowmo)
11th May 2023, 10:15
Lets see how it plays out for them, there is a long history of teams switching development early in the season to get an advantage for the following year and then they proceed to not make a step the next year and lose out in the current season. It’s the sort of gamble that is worth it when there is a significant rule change but not so much under stable rules. The other gamble of switching focus early is if something new gets proposed in the rules late this season that might wipe out your work for the following year.
From my limited access to data, it has appeared to me this year that cars are once again not able to follow quite as closely as they were even last year which is kind of indicative that teams are starting to become more sensitive to the wake of cars ahead. I can see the FIA making further regulation changes after the summer if only to throw a curve ball to Red Bull out of desperation to reel them in a bit. It is quite apparent the FIA have no got the power to just push through changes they want on a majority vote and there are no pesky veto’s in their way anymore.
Todfod (@todfod)
11th May 2023, 15:53
@slowmo
Honestly, I could see Mercedes switching their development efforts on to the 2024 car as early as Monaco. I think the Barcelona race weekend is where their update would fail to close the gap again, and Toto would label this whole car concept as flawed, just for them to start from scratch. If Ferrari had any common sense, they would do the same… but either ways.. it would make no difference to Ferrari if they started early or late as they’re not really a top tier team that can fight for championships.
I think Aston starting early also makes sense. They have nothing more to accomplish this season.. and if they genuinely want to fight the Red Bulls, they need to use any extra wind tunnel and CFD time in their favour for next season.
slowmo (@slowmo)
11th May 2023, 16:08
It may be that Aston Martin ensure they slip to 4th so they do get more ATR time. I was just saying that starting early doesn’t guarantee success. I think Mercedes will start on 2024 early but I think they’ll want to get a steer on their new concept with the current car before they stop development. Ferrari are just a mess, no matter what they do they’re not going to fight for the championship until they have a leader who can get rid of their external influences on the F1 team.