2023 Aston Martin | Aramco | Cognizant F1 Team

[nowaysthatsreal]

Shame about P4, Mercs look pretty quick as well. Reminds me of Bahrain a bit, starting behind both of them, but I hope Fernando can pass both tomorrow on race pace and hopefully get P2

With the Aston's low top speed, it will be an uphill battle.

Maybe an undercut or take at least Hamilton on the start?

Actually overcut, the tyres could last longer. Regardless of grid position, it’s still second fastest in the race conditions. I think P2 is possible tomorrow

[KimiRai]

are we going to get any upgrade on Baku? I believe AMR running same car for all 3 races without any update.

The italians did say a new rear wing was bound for either Australia or Baku, so unless they made that up then it should next race

[organic]

are we going to get any upgrade on Baku? I believe AMR running same car for all 3 races without any update.

The italians did say a new rear wing was bound for either Australia or Baku, so unless they made that up then it should next race

Surely they won't run at Baku with this wing

[KimiRai]

Only 4 tenths off Max in qualy so pretty good.

Toto grinning and smiling yet barely ahead of a customer team... how far has Mercedes fallen

[max_speed]

are we going to get any upgrade on Baku? I believe AMR running same car for all 3 races without any update.

Surely they won't run at Baku with this wing

Running in baku with this wing, they will be overtaken by williams on straights. Speed under drs has been a major shortcoming for aston. I hope they get it right without loosing things in corners and things can become bit spicy

[Juzh]

Mercedes apparently only has a 2 kph advantage in the speed trap so it's not that bad.

They are actually quite a lot slower, similar to bahrain. 2 kmh is a raw number that's underselling aston's relative lack of performance on straights compared to mercedes. In a straight fight alonso ain't getting passed either russel or hamilton as his advantage will not be big enough, he'll either have to jump them off the start or undercut.

[Alo_Fan]

With the Aston's low top speed, it will be an uphill battle.

Maybe an undercut or take at least Hamilton on the start?

Actually overcut, the tyres could last longer. Regardless of grid position, it’s still second fastest in the race conditions. I think P2 is possible tomorrow

Yeah, you're right. It takes the drivers around 2 laps to get the tyres in the right window anyways, and deg is low. The overcut might be the best strategy.

[AR3-GP]

Mercedes apparently only has a 2 kph advantage in the speed trap so it's not that bad.

They are actually quite a lot slower, similar to bahrain. 2 kmh is a raw number that's underselling aston's relative lack of performance on straights compared to mercedes. In a straight fight alonso ain't getting passed either russel or hamilton as his advantage will not be big enough, he'll either have to jump them off the start or undercut.

Yeah the number is more like +5 to Merc and +10 to RB on the front straight. +3 to Merc and +8 to RB into T11, and then again +6 to Merc and +10 to RB into T11. This is when all cars have DRS open.

[NAPI10]

are we going to get any upgrade on Baku? I believe AMR running same car for all 3 races without any update.

AM will be bringing new RW for Baku

[NAPI10]

Fernando: "The best qualy out of the three so far. Mercedes who say that their car is so bad and want to abandon it truth is they are fast, and by middle of the season they may be able to win races.
Hards were going worse than expected but if tomorrow there is sun it may be able to help the hards.
Redbull is still another league but there's only one this time so we have to take advantage, but Mercedes are ahead of us, so it will be an interesting race"

What happened with Leclerc? He was behind Stroll and Sainz so he likely made a mistake

I like the mind games by Alonso
Don’t want Merc to converge on RB concept….

[KimiRai]

Fernando starts on the odd side of the grid (and likely a worse odd side than Jeddah was) so I dont expect great start necessarily

Anyways on the top speed thing, people are asking for Aston to fix it but does it really matter? I mean, they surely know what to do with the car and where to develop it, it's not like Aston can't be fast without a top speed advantage. I remember Vettel's Redbulls had low top speed as well usually yet he won 4 championships. You could just qualify 1st with a downforce monster of a car and then race off to the distance. They know what to do.

[AR3-GP]

Fernando starts on the odd side of the grid (and likely a worse odd side than Jeddah was) so I dont expect great start necessarily

Anyways on the top speed thing, people are asking for Aston to fix it but does it really matter? I mean, they surely know what to do with the car and where to develop it, it's not like Aston can't be fast without a top speed advantage. I remember Vettel's Redbulls had low top speed as well usually yet he won 4 championships. You could just qualify 1st with a downforce monster of a car and then race off to the distance. They know what to do.

The problem is RB is going about as fast if not faster in the corners , with much better top speed. There was no car going through corners like the Vettel cars while having better top speed. If there were, they would be in front.

Anyway, it's a new car so they are learning what it needs. It's not like it's the 4th year and they still are too slow on the straights.

[diffuser]

What the heck happened? Easy P2 got slipped away. This was great opportunity for alonso to open up gap to perez and make it into a title fight. Somehow fernando does not max out like others in Q3. If he wants to fight for championship he needs to bring extra tenths

He was 2 tenths up on Stroll, Maybe the car didn't have anymore in it.

[KimiRai]

Fernando starts on the odd side of the grid (and likely a worse odd side than Jeddah was) so I dont expect great start necessarily

Anyways on the top speed thing, people are asking for Aston to fix it but does it really matter? I mean, they surely know what to do with the car and where to develop it, it's not like Aston can't be fast without a top speed advantage. I remember Vettel's Redbulls had low top speed as well usually yet he won 4 championships. You could just qualify 1st with a downforce monster of a car and then race off to the distance. They know what to do.

The problem is RB is going about as fast if not faster in the corners , with much better top speed. There was no car going through corners like the Vettel cars while having better top speed. If there were, they would be in front.

Are you sure the RB is faster on the corners? And I don't mean a sector time, just purely the corners only. I think the Aston may be quicker

[AR3-GP]

Fernando starts on the odd side of the grid (and likely a worse odd side than Jeddah was) so I dont expect great start necessarily

Anyways on the top speed thing, people are asking for Aston to fix it but does it really matter? I mean, they surely know what to do with the car and where to develop it, it's not like Aston can't be fast without a top speed advantage. I remember Vettel's Redbulls had low top speed as well usually yet he won 4 championships. You could just qualify 1st with a downforce monster of a car and then race off to the distance. They know what to do.

The problem is RB is going about as fast if not faster in the corners , with much better top speed. There was no car going through corners like the Vettel cars while having better top speed. If there were, they would be in front.

Are you sure the RB is faster on the corners? And I don't mean a sector time, just purely the corners only. I think the Aston may be quicker

It depends on the circuit. In Bahrain there were areas where Aston Martin had advantage (very low speed and in the brake zones). RB was still faster in the higher speed stuff and gaining much more there to compensate. So Aston isn't making enough time.

Here in Australia RB is just faster almost everywhere. Corners and straights.

This is Verstappen vs Alonso from Q3 in Albert Park today:

Higher minimum apex speed almost everywhere if you look at the speed trace for the fast lap in the top plot. You can also seem the evolution of the time deficit in the bottom figure and he just loses everywhere.