Adrian Newey going where others dare not?

The Aston Martin AMR26. It is the team’s first car designed under the iconic Adrian Newey, and one which stole the spotlight in Barcelona.

Emerging late on Day 4 in an all-black livery, the AMR26 is a design which stood out against rivals. Aston Martin’s former strategy chief Bernie Collins was drawn to the front and rear suspension as areas for Newey innovation, where other designers may not dare tread.

Adrian Newey AMR26 suspension details under spotlight

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From a front nose harking back to the Newey-Red Bull glory days, to eye-catching sidepods, McLaren MP4-20-esque horns and unique suspension geometries, PlanetF1.com’s resident expert Matthew Somerfield has done a deep dive into the details that makes Newey’s first Aston Martin F1 car so intriguing.

And this also the year that Aston Martin begins its Honda engine alliance, there was a lot that needed to come together for Aston Martin to hit the track in Barcelona, as it successfully did late in Day 4, and into the fifth and final day.

“What a mammoth undertaking to get that car out, I think, from that team,” Collins, Aston Martin’s ex-strategy chief, told Sky F1. “New engine, new gearbox, Aston Martin not having done their own gearbox in many, many years. Brought it all together.

“And quite an aggressive design. Not painted is a good way to hide the aspects of the car. It’s very difficult in moving pictures to see any of the detail in there. I think that’s one of the reasons why teams have run sort of that type of livery.

“And at this stage, it doesn’t need to be painted. They can get the paint on it in the next two weeks, if they want to, before they get it to Bahrain. So that’s many reasons why not to do that. That is not necessary for the data that Adrian really needs in order to continue to develop this car.

“But it does look really, really, really good, and I’m impressed that they’ve managed to get that to track yesterday [Thursday], continue to run it today.

“The lap times aren’t there, but we don’t know if they’re having them on, either engine or the gearbox, a little bit conservatively at this stage.

“What they are gathering is that aero data that will allow them to continue to develop into Bahrain in two weeks’ time.”

Under the spotlight in particular is the AMR26’s front and rear suspension.

PlanetF1.com’s Matthew Somerfield points to a ‘multi-link wishbone arrangement that has the upper rear leg of the assembly placed lower and further back on the chassis than we’ve ever seen before.’

Newey could be pushing boundaries here in ways that other designers are not willing to, Collins suggests.

Time will tell as to innovations which Aston Martin’s rivals have to come, as the Bahrain tests, and the Melbourne season-opener, approach.

Collins said: “The first thing that a suspension is to do is to connect the wheels to the car. That is the primary focus of suspension member on a car. If the wheels aren’t in contact with the ground at all times, you’re losing traction, so you need to get the four tyres in contact with the car as much as possible.

“Now, drivers will push towards drivability, how the car feels through corners, and that all comes from suspension as well.

“Adrian Newey, the pure aerodynamicist, is pushing for downforce. He’s positioning the suspension in a way that is generating downforce, or reducing drag. One of those two is his main aim, and not, maybe, focused as much on the cornering performance from a mechanical side.

“And he’s forcing, maybe, the mechanical suspension into somewhere that other designers might not be happy to go.”

So, that was the front suspension. The eyes of Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz were also being drawn to the rear of the AMR26.

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“If you go to the middle of the rear wing, and look at those two pillars, and go down, your eye will meet the top element of the rear suspension wishbone,” he said.

“And Bernie, just explain why this is different from any other car that we’ve seen on the grid, where that top wishbone is mounted on the rear wing pillar.”

She replied: “The thing to say first off, is that each wishbone, for each wheel, top and lower wishbone, has two elements, a forward leg and a rearward leg, that sort of makes like a V-shape.

“Now, traditionally, on the front, they’re mounted to the chassis. On the rear, they’re mounted to the gearbox, traditionally.

“And there’s lots of reasons for that. The gearbox is a very strong member within the rear of the car. So, it brings more stiffness, for example, which is something that you tend to want. It tends to hold some of the internal suspension in there as well.

“But again, this is an example of Adrian Newey pushing that design a little bit.

“This will be really tricky, technically, to get the rear wing pillar strong enough, but yet light enough, and to mount that bit of suspension on it. But he’s using that as like a lower element of a rear wing.

“We’d often seen, I guess they called it the monkey seat for a while, where you had a lower rear wing element that you’re using to produce downforce. That will be one of the things that he’s using this very, very high rear suspension member to do.

“If you were to mount it on the gearbox, that would be much, much lower, so you wouldn’t be able to see it in this image. But he’s raised it up in order to help the air flow in that area, in order to produce some additional downforce, I think.”

The Aston Martin AMR26 will return for the first, official, pre-season test in Bahrain on 11-13 February. The second test takes place between 18-20 February, also in Bahrain, before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 8 March.

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