The team formerly known as Racing Point had a tough first qualifying of the season in Bahrain on Saturday. Sebastian Vettel was “upset and angry” after dropping out in 18th place in the first quarter, and Lance Stroll in tenth.
On a track configuration where the team battled for a podium spot late last year, no doubt was left that the ground changes for 2021 did significant damage to low-rake concept cars like its own AMR21 and rival Mercedes.
After qualifying, Aston Martin Team Principal Otston Szafnauer said: “The last time we drove here in Bahrain four months ago, we were on a podium before an engine problem ended Checo’s race.
“We’re not going anywhere near that kind of performance here, and the direct cause of this drop in performance is the new aero regulations for 2021 that will be imposed on all teams.
“If you compare the qualifying times between these two races here in Bahrain now and four months ago, it looks like the high-raked Aero Philosophy cars have around a second compared to the low-raked Aero Philosophy cars increased per lap. So Mercedes and we are the worst hit teams. “
Insight: Why the rules of F1 for 2021 do more harm to Mercedes with a low rake
Szafnauer said the situation his team was facing was difficult to accept, especially after so much effort had been put into the winter leading up to Aston Martin’s F1 return for the first time since 1960.
His comments followed Lewis Hamilton’s comments after qualifying. The world champion claimed the floor changes were introduced “to tie Mercedes back”.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR21
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“I’m not happy,” said Szafnauer. “And when I say that I am not happy I mean that I am not happy for our two great drivers. I’m not excited about the 500 great men and women who designed, built, and now drive our new car. and I’m not happy for our sponsor partners or our fans either.
“Nonetheless, we will of course now work hard to make up for the performance deficit in the coming races as much as possible.”
Given the calculation concept that is so fundamental to the entire vehicle design, there is little that Aston Martin and Mercedes can do in the short term, according to Szafnauer, due to strict homologation rules.
“After carefully analyzing the test data and this weekend, it is clear that the new aero regulations for 2021 have impacted cars with a low-rake aero philosophy significantly more deleteriously than cars with a high-raked aero philosophy,” he added.
“In particular, the change in the floor dimensions and the profile at the rear of the cars has had a profound negative impact on the performance of cars with a low-rake aero philosophy like our car and the Mercedes car.
“Not only are we talking about this topic – Toto spoke about it at the FIA press conference yesterday.
“We can’t change a car with a high rake aero philosophy, even if we wanted to, and neither can Mercedes, because the suspension on this year’s cars has been homologated.”
When asked if he believed that the aero rules were deliberately introduced to hinder some teams and improve the playing field, Szafnauer said, “I say that the new aero rules for 2021 are low-raked cars Have influenced aero philosophy more detrimentally than cars with a high-rake aero philosophy.
“So Mercedes and we suffered, while the high-rake aero philosophy cars like those from Red Bull and Alpha Tauri and McLaren and Ferrari didn’t suffer.”
The post New aero regulations cost low-rake cars 1s per lap first appeared on monter-une-startup.
