Rule changes have violated low-rake cars – Motorsport Week

Aston Martin CEO Otmar Szafnauer believes the changes in regulations for 2021 mean the team has lost “about a second” of relative performance due to its design philosophy.

Aston Martin has traditionally driven a “low-rake” car with a longer wheelbase with Master Mercedes, which leads to a different design philosophy than most other teams using a “high-rake” concept.

The high-rake concept is more closely associated with Red Bull Racing as the car with the shorter wheelbase points down and supposedly creates more underbody downforce.

The 2021 regulations were changed to reduce downforce on the ground after the FIA ​​and tire supplier Pirelli were concerned about increasing cornering speeds.

Outside of Haas, which has all but given up on developing its current vehicle cycle, Mercedes and Aston Martin were the teams that lost the most lap time in qualifying compared to the previous Bahrain event last November.

It has led to suggestions that the floor space changes have hampered those with a low-rake car versus a high-rake concept.

“I think where we lost is the change in regulations. It looks like the low-rake runners lost about one second per lap to the high-rake runners,” said Szafnauer.

“When you look up and down [the grid]Compare us to Mercedes, I think we are a tenth [closer], but when you compare [it] For high-rake runners, they won seven, eight tenths, or even a second per lap.

“We haven’t given up this year and we have things in the tunnel and in CFD so we’ll be getting them out on the track soon.

“So the point is to reclaim the deficit that the FIA ​​has placed on us through their safety-based regulatory change.”

Szafnauer added that last year, when the changes were confirmed, Aston Martin knew it was likely to lose.

“Last year it was suggested by the low-rake runners that this would have a bigger effect than the high-rake runners, and we were right,” he said.

“It was pointed out at the time the regulations were made.”