Aston Martin saw a boost in performance during the Hungarian Grand Prix, which Sky Sports F1 analyst Bernie Collins has branded as “phenomenal”.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso, who was suffering with a back injury, scored 10 points with a fifth-place finish and his team-mate Lance Stroll collected six points after crossing the line in seventh. As a result, the Silverstone outfit overtook Sauber in the standings to sit sixth heading into the Formula 1 summer break.
Bernie Collins discussed the changes within the Lawrence Stroll-led team during the latest Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“So the running discussion in the paddock is they’re running a new front wing with an old floor. Some of it will be circuit-specific, but the turnaround has been phenomenal, given we have been at high downforce tracks this year and the car has performed nothing like it did this weekend,” Collins, who used to serve as a strategist for Aston Martin, explained.
“So, something in their new front wing – and it’s hard, I guess, for people to realise that just one component or one assembly can make such a big difference to car performance – but if the old front wing, something about how the air was flowing off that affects the remainder of the car… So if the old front wing wasn’t allowing components in the floor to work, then a single component like the front wing may allow better airflow to the rest of the car.
“Suddenly, the whole floor is working better, the diffuser’s working better, the rear wing’s working better. So just getting one assembly correct – particularly front wing or a front brake duct, anything like that that’s affecting a lot of the airflow further back in the car – it can turn your performance around quite quickly.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
“We need to go to more circuits to see that that holds across a range of downforce levels. But such positive signs for Aston Martin.”
She added: “I think they were a team that had sort of written off their year because the car just wasn’t working. Alonso was very unhappy.
“And that’s really positive for them and gives them positivity going forward in terms of what they’re working on in the wind tunnel, what they’re working on in fluid dynamics, what they’re working on in the simulator. If they can understand why the car worked this weekend, that gives them a lot of confidence in their design work going forward.”
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