“Foolish” to ignore McLaren’s upgrade approach

Aston Martin thinks it would be “silly” not to investigate whether McLaren’s alternative approach to upgrades has been a key factor in Formula 1’s success.

McLaren has bucked the trend of its rivals this season in the way it has structured its car development programme.

Instead of pushing for performance improvements through multiple major car upgrades, the company has stuck with a floor design it first launched at the Miami Grand Prix.

A familiar package allowed McLaren to focus more on optimizing its car each weekend and refining the MCL38 into a regular race winner.

Such consistent on-track performance stands in contrast to rivals such as Aston Martin, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, all of which faced headaches when improved floors caused balance or other car performance issues.

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And it has even prompted Aston Martin, which started the season strongly before its form faded following an upgrade at Imola, to suggest it must determine whether McLaren’s approach could be a better route.

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack suggested that greater performance could potentially come from modifications considered minor, rather than the more typical major car overhauls.

“We look at this a lot,” Krack said.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“If you compare the pace, and you see when they (McLaren) have taken a step, and you can correlate that with some upgrades that are explained because we never have the full picture, then there is a correlation where you can say: ‘ Okay. , this is what changed, and what it may have done’.

“For example, if you see the upgrade of Zandvoort, it’s a little here, a little there, a little there. You see how beautiful and complex these cars have become, so I think it would be foolish not to look at them.”

Krack thinks that the way other teams such as Mercedes are also able to unlock car performance shows that Aston Martin can set its sights on a good step forward if it is given the right tools to deliver a well-balanced car.

“At the beginning of the season we were on the same level as Mercedes in the first races, and after that they won races,” said Krack.

“So it is possible to make substantial progress with these regulations, if you ensure that the car remains stable and behaves as the drivers want.

“There is no pure race for downforce as you had in the past. Where it is really difficult here is that it is more about stability, but of course also about balance and load.”

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