Aston Martin presents the AMR24: what changes will Stroll and Alonso’s car have in 2024?

The difference between the revelation car and the fiasco of the season is negligible - perhaps one tenth either way. Futurologists have no place in this F1 beyond Red Bull. But what are you going to do? The Aston Martin AMR24 that the team unveiled today, and that will roll soon at Silverstone, is exciting. The team that returned Alonso to positions of honor earned credit with an impressive 2023 (eight podiums for the two-time champion) and now it is in their hands, and in their car, the possibility of confirming themselves among the greats.

Dan Fallows, technical director of the project, talks about changes and refinements in almost all relevant areas of the new Aston Martin to correct the AMR23′s weaknesses (which were not few) and build a good platform on which to develop over the course of the year. “I would call the AMR24 a strong evolution of last year’s car and it does look quite different with many new parts to give us a strong platform for development. The chassis design is new, as well as the nose, front wing, front suspension and rear suspension.  We want to compete in the development race this season and this car is designed to do just that,” the engineer explains.

Alonso himself points out what he would like to correct about the predecessor: “From the car, I basically will love to have a little bit more downforce, especially on the high-speed corners; it probably was one weak area last year that I think we tried to improve in this year’s car,” he told reporters this week. “Top speed was not the best last year, we were always fighting on the straights, and we were on the bottom on the charts always on the top of speed, so we try to be a little bit more efficient this year, a little bit faster on the straight. So there are a couple of points that I would love to see in the car when we hit Bahrain, winter testing, which probably will help us on Sundays, on the race weekends”.

One eye on Red Bull

So what have they changed? The front wing design has been altered to help manage front wheel wake in a more efficient way. Combined with the over-wheel winglets, the aim is to control the wake from the front tyres and direct it away from the rest of the car to allow the other downforce-producing surfaces to work more efficiently. There has also been adjustments to the sidepods and bodywork to improve airflow management around the floor and over the rear wing.

This AMR24 may stumble with the well-worn middle zone or rear its head against Ferrari and Mercedes, two giants. But the reference of this grid is Red Bull and at the Silverstone factory, they want to look upwards. “When you have a team that’s doing as well as Red Bull have done since 2022, it’s inevitable that there will be some kind of convergence on their solutions,” Fallows adds. “I think, with the regulations that we have now, it is not particularly easy to have cars that are visually very different, so it’s inevitable, I think, that we would see some of that convergence. I think what’s in many ways more interesting is the convergence in lap times that we’ve seen, people are getting very close. We’re really into finding lap time now from things that are smaller details, the more kind of detailed elements of the floor and other parts of the car. There’s still a lot of lap time to come. We take the approach that Red Bull are absolutely beatable, that’s what we’re chasing after we’re focusing on them, and that’s what we’re aiming for.

What adjustments have been made to the AMR24?

“The floor is the biggest area of downforce generation on an F1 car and it’s constantly being evolved. Getting it right will be of paramount importance to our success in 2024. Work has been done on both ends of the car’s suspension. The front will work more efficiently alongside the front wing, and aero work has been done at the rear to optimize our layout in that area,” he explained.

Team Principal, Mike Krack chipped in: “The winter break is getting shorter and shorter. We had a great season with the AMR23 but we have tried to look at every area in the car and operations to take a step forward in all directions. It has been two very intense months since we finished the season, we hope we have done enough and have a strong car. We are proud to debut the AMR24. It’s the result of a huge effort by the whole team at our new AMR Technology Campus and it will allow the team to take another step forward in 2024. Since the last race in 2023, everyone has been hyper-focused on improvements in every area, concentrating our efforts on what really makes a difference, what really matters to be better. Almost every area of the car has been refined and improved, building on our strengths, and taking on board the lessons of the previous campaign. 2023 was our best season to date and our goal this season is to score regular points, podiums, and fight for our first win in green.”

Alonso and Stroll will debut the Aston Martin this Monday at Silverstone with a short filming. Pre-season testing will begin on 21 February in Sakhir and the first race of the season will be held on 2 March at the same circuit. From there, enthusiasm and expectations will give way to results.