2023 Aston Martin | Aramco | Cognizant F1 Team

[OnEcRiTiCaL]

Original interview between Ted and Krack where Ted enquires about a possible mandated front wing change:

I remember a few days ago someone said that AM were unhappy with the front wing in general, but again not sure if this is related at all and also another piece of information said that the canada upgrades did screw up the rear, so there's rumours for everyone's tastes. Personally the upgrades theory makes more sense to me but I wish we had more information as we're basically walking in darkness so we'll have to wait.

Two unreliable rumours that I have no idea where they come from say: Canada sidepods create unintended effect on the rear, and AM are unhappy with the front wing in general.

I think he was very clear. The upgrades worked(my opinion, more DF less drag) but had unintended effect (lost some low speed traction).

With regards to the front wing, he said that he cannot confirm the front wing issue and then said the fia documents show we haven't updated the front wing.

They definitely changed a lot the front wing and they went more in the old Ferrari wing style. It was in Barcelona. They had immediately the same problem as Ferrari and Hass.

[KimiRai]

Antonio Lobato who is a good friend of Fernando and DLR, says that according to his information the FIA theory is false and that the source of the problem is the Canada upgrades.

[Alok91]

Ted Kravitz on amr canada upgrade.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1032594/1 ... e-has-gone

“I have an answer for you about where their pace has gone,” Kravitz told Sky.

“[Performance director] Tom McCullough and [team principal] Mike Krack has both confirmed this.

“It was the Canada upgrades that confused the team.

“The chief engineer said that sometimes when you put an upgrade package on the car, it might work.

“It came at the worst time. The upgrades came in Canada. Where were they in Canada? P2.

“Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car.

“When they got to Hungary and Silverstone, they found that the upgrades were, in fact, unbalancing the car.

“But they know that now. They are not confused. They are backing out, or rather adapting, the upgrades to make them work.

Will the return of the sprint expose Mercedes’ setup woes again?
“It was the Montreal upgrades that confused Aston Martin and made them go backwards.

“But now that they know that, and they have money left in the development pot, and they have some more ideas, and they will have upgrades in Holland after the summer break.

“Look for an even quicker Aston Martin.”

[diffuser]

I remember a few days ago someone said that AM were unhappy with the front wing in general, but again not sure if this is related at all and also another piece of information said that the canada upgrades did screw up the rear, so there's rumours for everyone's tastes. Personally the upgrades theory makes more sense to me but I wish we had more information as we're basically walking in darkness so we'll have to wait.

I think he was very clear. The upgrades worked(my opinion, more DF less drag) but had unintended effect (lost some low speed traction).

With regards to the front wing, he said that he cannot confirm the front wing issue and then said the fia documents show we haven't updated the front wing.

They definitely changed a lot the front wing and they went more in the old Ferrari wing style. It was in Barcelona. They had immediately the same problem as Ferrari and Hass.

I think he's saying that the old front wing is still available for use. That they haven't modified it.

[NAPI10]

Ted Kravitz on amr canada upgrade.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1032594/1 ... e-has-gone

“I have an answer for you about where their pace has gone,” Kravitz told Sky.

“[Performance director] Tom McCullough and [team principal] Mike Krack has both confirmed this.

“It was the Canada upgrades that confused the team.

“The chief engineer said that sometimes when you put an upgrade package on the car, it might work.

“It came at the worst time. The upgrades came in Canada. Where were they in Canada? P2.

“Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car.

“When they got to Hungary and Silverstone, they found that the upgrades were, in fact, unbalancing the car.

“But they know that now. They are not confused. They are backing out, or rather adapting, the upgrades to make them work.

Will the return of the sprint expose Mercedes’ setup woes again?
“It was the Montreal upgrades that confused Aston Martin and made them go backwards.

“But now that they know that, and they have money left in the development pot, and they have some more ideas, and they will have upgrades in Holland after the summer break.

“Look for an even quicker Aston Martin.”

Package scheduled for Holland is a 'Correction Package(to reset pre-Canada level)' or 'Upgrade Package' to build on new parts introduced at Canada?

[diffuser]

Ted Kravitz on amr canada upgrade.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1032594/1 ... e-has-gone

“I have an answer for you about where their pace has gone,” Kravitz told Sky.

“[Performance director] Tom McCullough and [team principal] Mike Krack has both confirmed this.

“It was the Canada upgrades that confused the team.

“The chief engineer said that sometimes when you put an upgrade package on the car, it might work.

“It came at the worst time. The upgrades came in Canada. Where were they in Canada? P2.

“Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car.

“When they got to Hungary and Silverstone, they found that the upgrades were, in fact, unbalancing the car.

“But they know that now. They are not confused. They are backing out, or rather adapting, the upgrades to make them work.

Will the return of the sprint expose Mercedes’ setup woes again?
“It was the Montreal upgrades that confused Aston Martin and made them go backwards.

“But now that they know that, and they have money left in the development pot, and they have some more ideas, and they will have upgrades in Holland after the summer break.

“Look for an even quicker Aston Martin.”

Package scheduled for Holland is a 'Correction Package(to reset pre-Canada level)' or 'Upgrade Package' to build on new parts introduced at Canada?

Depends on who you ask. Back in Canada Krack said that they had a raft of upgrades to chooses from and they couldn't do them all at once, these were the ones that they chose. If you continue to believe what he says, these might be the rest of those upgrades from back then that will finally be produced(Netherlands being 8-10 weeks from Canada).

The other option is he's covering Aston's @ss and they made mistakes and are now taking step to get them back on the right path.

We might be able to tell when we see the upgrades...see the direction they go with.

In the end does it really matter as long as it starts working again? BTW, I'm starting to lean in the latter's direction.

[peewon]

Ted Kravitz on amr canada upgrade.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1032594/1 ... e-has-gone

“I have an answer for you about where their pace has gone,” Kravitz told Sky.

“[Performance director] Tom McCullough and [team principal] Mike Krack has both confirmed this.

“It was the Canada upgrades that confused the team.

“The chief engineer said that sometimes when you put an upgrade package on the car, it might work.

“It came at the worst time. The upgrades came in Canada. Where were they in Canada? P2.

“Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car.

“When they got to Hungary and Silverstone, they found that the upgrades were, in fact, unbalancing the car.

“But they know that now. They are not confused. They are backing out, or rather adapting, the upgrades to make them work.

Will the return of the sprint expose Mercedes’ setup woes again?
“It was the Montreal upgrades that confused Aston Martin and made them go backwards.

“But now that they know that, and they have money left in the development pot, and they have some more ideas, and they will have upgrades in Holland after the summer break.

“Look for an even quicker Aston Martin.”

Package scheduled for Holland is a 'Correction Package(to reset pre-Canada level)' or 'Upgrade Package' to build on new parts introduced at Canada?

I feel like this a fever dream hearing this from AM now. I literally said this after the Canadian GP...

Ive noticed the car being a looser on the rear end as shown by Lance spinning and Fernando with that uncharacteristic wall hit. Compare to the start of the season when it looked absolutely planted when Stroll drover around the outside on Sainz at the hairpin in Jeddah.

Maybe the quest for reduced drag has come at the expense of some downforce but they feel it provides more balanced performance race to race. Whats interesting is that suspension seems to be a key area for gains as Newey was heavily overseeing that for RB and Merc's jump has also coincided with an updated front suspension, albeit along with a slew of other changes.

I was also immediately doubtful of their upgrades...

Im not as convinced as to how well their upgrades performed. Max had bird stuck in his break duct for the whole race and it still wasn't close, AM's own fuel problems not withstanding...

I know they have their processes they have to go through but how can a team with the caliber of people and a double world champion for feedback not realized this sooner? This has to be a smokescreen for something else right? Otherwise any an should have a serious concerns about their competence.

[NAPI10]

Ted Kravitz on amr canada upgrade.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1032594/1 ... e-has-gone

“I have an answer for you about where their pace has gone,” Kravitz told Sky.

“[Performance director] Tom McCullough and [team principal] Mike Krack has both confirmed this.

“It was the Canada upgrades that confused the team.

“The chief engineer said that sometimes when you put an upgrade package on the car, it might work.

“It came at the worst time. The upgrades came in Canada. Where were they in Canada? P2.

“Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car.

“When they got to Hungary and Silverstone, they found that the upgrades were, in fact, unbalancing the car.

“But they know that now. They are not confused. They are backing out, or rather adapting, the upgrades to make them work.

Will the return of the sprint expose Mercedes’ setup woes again?
“It was the Montreal upgrades that confused Aston Martin and made them go backwards.

“But now that they know that, and they have money left in the development pot, and they have some more ideas, and they will have upgrades in Holland after the summer break.

“Look for an even quicker Aston Martin.”

Package scheduled for Holland is a 'Correction Package(to reset pre-Canada level)' or 'Upgrade Package' to build on new parts introduced at Canada?

I feel like this a fever dream hearing this from AM now. I literally said this after the Canadian GP...

Ive noticed the car being a looser on the rear end as shown by Lance spinning and Fernando with that uncharacteristic wall hit. Compare to the start of the season when it looked absolutely planted when Stroll drover around the outside on Sainz at the hairpin in Jeddah.

Maybe the quest for reduced drag has come at the expense of some downforce but they feel it provides more balanced performance race to race. Whats interesting is that suspension seems to be a key area for gains as Newey was heavily overseeing that for RB and Merc's jump has also coincided with an updated front suspension, albeit along with a slew of other changes.

I was also immediately doubtful of their upgrades...

Im not as convinced as to how well their upgrades performed. Max had bird stuck in his break duct for the whole race and it still wasn't close, AM's own fuel problems not withstanding...

I know they have their processes they have to go through but how can a team with the caliber of people and a double world champion for feedback not realized this sooner? This has to be a smokescreen for something else right? Otherwise any an should have a serious concerns about their competence.

I have no doubt abt team realizing the Canada package issue during the race data analysis & driver feedback sessions.
Work must have started to identify root cause & come up with a 'Correction' package. Team & driver tried to create a smokescreen to manage external expectations.
If that's not the case ; how can they get package build & deliver just after summer break?

[issey]

[peewon]

I have no doubt abt team realizing the Canada package issue during the race data analysis & driver feedback sessions.
Work must have started to identify root cause & come up with a 'Correction' package. Team & driver tried to create a smokescreen to manage external expectations.
If that's not the case ; how can they get package build & deliver just after summer break?

Im not so sure man. They talked positively about the upgrades after Canada. They kept talking about not having practice sessions first, then it was about tracks not suiting them and after Silverstone, it was the new tyres not suiting them. Finally, after Hungary they sort of started accepting the lack of performance. I hope this is a correlation issue which misled them but I have serious question marks over their competency, although I like Krack. They were one of the last teams to bring upgrades too.

[diffuser]

Ted Kravitz on amr canada upgrade.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1032594/1 ... e-has-gone

“I have an answer for you about where their pace has gone,” Kravitz told Sky.

“[Performance director] Tom McCullough and [team principal] Mike Krack has both confirmed this.

“It was the Canada upgrades that confused the team.

“The chief engineer said that sometimes when you put an upgrade package on the car, it might work.

“It came at the worst time. The upgrades came in Canada. Where were they in Canada? P2.

“Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car.

“When they got to Hungary and Silverstone, they found that the upgrades were, in fact, unbalancing the car.

“But they know that now. They are not confused. They are backing out, or rather adapting, the upgrades to make them work.

Will the return of the sprint expose Mercedes’ setup woes again?
“It was the Montreal upgrades that confused Aston Martin and made them go backwards.

“But now that they know that, and they have money left in the development pot, and they have some more ideas, and they will have upgrades in Holland after the summer break.

“Look for an even quicker Aston Martin.”

Package scheduled for Holland is a 'Correction Package(to reset pre-Canada level)' or 'Upgrade Package' to build on new parts introduced at Canada?

I feel like this a fever dream hearing this from AM now. I literally said this after the Canadian GP...

Ive noticed the car being a looser on the rear end as shown by Lance spinning and Fernando with that uncharacteristic wall hit. Compare to the start of the season when it looked absolutely planted when Stroll drover around the outside on Sainz at the hairpin in Jeddah.

Maybe the quest for reduced drag has come at the expense of some downforce but they feel it provides more balanced performance race to race. Whats interesting is that suspension seems to be a key area for gains as Newey was heavily overseeing that for RB and Merc's jump has also coincided with an updated front suspension, albeit along with a slew of other changes.

I was also immediately doubtful of their upgrades...

Im not as convinced as to how well their upgrades performed. Max had bird stuck in his break duct for the whole race and it still wasn't close, AM's own fuel problems not withstanding...

I know they have their processes they have to go through but how can a team with the caliber of people and a double world champion for feedback not realized this sooner? This has to be a smokescreen for something else right? Otherwise any an should have a serious concerns about their competence.

Russell smashed into the wall even harder, uncharacteristic of Russell as well, Merc's upgrades didn't work either? Plus the weather forcast showed gust of up to 35KPH, that will do that. They said it was the wind also on the team radio. Plus Plus “Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car." in other words, no symptoms of a problem in Canada.

Montreal has a wall called the wall of Champions, even Alonso DNF'd on it. So there is a history and he notoriously doesn't do well in Montreal.

By their own admission, they never said they were ready for championships, they said they were still building.

With regards to "is there more to it "? who knows. I don't, just guessing.

[AR3-GP]

Package scheduled for Holland is a 'Correction Package(to reset pre-Canada level)' or 'Upgrade Package' to build on new parts introduced at Canada?

I feel like this a fever dream hearing this from AM now. I literally said this after the Canadian GP...

Ive noticed the car being a looser on the rear end as shown by Lance spinning and Fernando with that uncharacteristic wall hit. Compare to the start of the season when it looked absolutely planted when Stroll drover around the outside on Sainz at the hairpin in Jeddah.

Maybe the quest for reduced drag has come at the expense of some downforce but they feel it provides more balanced performance race to race. Whats interesting is that suspension seems to be a key area for gains as Newey was heavily overseeing that for RB and Merc's jump has also coincided with an updated front suspension, albeit along with a slew of other changes.

I was also immediately doubtful of their upgrades...

Im not as convinced as to how well their upgrades performed. Max had bird stuck in his break duct for the whole race and it still wasn't close, AM's own fuel problems not withstanding...

I know they have their processes they have to go through but how can a team with the caliber of people and a double world champion for feedback not realized this sooner? This has to be a smokescreen for something else right? Otherwise any an should have a serious concerns about their competence.

Russell smashed into the wall even harder, uncharacteristic of Russell as well, Merc's upgrades didn't work either? Plus the weather forcast showed gust of up to 35KPH, that will do that. They said it was the wind also on the team radio. Plus Plus “Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car." in other words, no symptoms of a problem in Canada.

Montreal has a wall called the wall of Champions, even Alonso DNF'd on it. So there is a history and he notoriously doesn't do well in Montreal.

By their own admission, they never said they were ready for championships, they said they were still building.

In Russell's case, he got sloppy over the entry curbs and was all out of shape, which is why he hit the wall. Alonso was just driving relatively untroubled until it snapped.

[peewon]

Package scheduled for Holland is a 'Correction Package(to reset pre-Canada level)' or 'Upgrade Package' to build on new parts introduced at Canada?

I feel like this a fever dream hearing this from AM now. I literally said this after the Canadian GP...

Ive noticed the car being a looser on the rear end as shown by Lance spinning and Fernando with that uncharacteristic wall hit. Compare to the start of the season when it looked absolutely planted when Stroll drover around the outside on Sainz at the hairpin in Jeddah.

Maybe the quest for reduced drag has come at the expense of some downforce but they feel it provides more balanced performance race to race. Whats interesting is that suspension seems to be a key area for gains as Newey was heavily overseeing that for RB and Merc's jump has also coincided with an updated front suspension, albeit along with a slew of other changes.

I was also immediately doubtful of their upgrades...

Im not as convinced as to how well their upgrades performed. Max had bird stuck in his break duct for the whole race and it still wasn't close, AM's own fuel problems not withstanding...

I know they have their processes they have to go through but how can a team with the caliber of people and a double world champion for feedback not realized this sooner? This has to be a smokescreen for something else right? Otherwise any an should have a serious concerns about their competence.

Russell smashed into the wall even harder, uncharacteristic of Russell as well, Merc's upgrades didn't work either? Plus the weather forcast showed gust of up to 35KPH, that will do that. They said it was the wind also on the team radio. Plus Plus “Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car." in other words, no symptoms of a problem in Canada.

Montreal has a wall called the wall of Champions, even Alonso DNF'd on it. So there is a history and he notoriously doesn't do well in Montreal.

By their own admission, they never said they were ready for championships, they said they were still building.

With regards to "is there more to it "? who knows. I don't, just guessing.

Russell is a more error prone than Alonso and made an obvious mistake. Wind usually doesn't make the rear snap out at the last second like that. It usually induces understeer. Not that I thought about it that deeply. Either the car looked unstable or I'm just clairvoyant because thats the reality now.

I don't know where the 'ready for championships' came from but they've regressed from where they were and its worthwhile to talk about where they can go.

[diffuser]

I feel like this a fever dream hearing this from AM now. I literally said this after the Canadian GP...



I was also immediately doubtful of their upgrades...



I know they have their processes they have to go through but how can a team with the caliber of people and a double world champion for feedback not realized this sooner? This has to be a smokescreen for something else right? Otherwise any an should have a serious concerns about their competence.

Russell smashed into the wall even harder, uncharacteristic of Russell as well, Merc's upgrades didn't work either? Plus the weather forcast showed gust of up to 35KPH, that will do that. They said it was the wind also on the team radio. Plus Plus “Second only to Max Verstappen so obviously that gave them a false steer that these upgrades were great, and weren’t actually unbalancing the car." in other words, no symptoms of a problem in Canada.

Montreal has a wall called the wall of Champions, even Alonso DNF'd on it. So there is a history and he notoriously doesn't do well in Montreal.

By their own admission, they never said they were ready for championships, they said they were still building.

With regards to "is there more to it "? who knows. I don't, just guessing.

Russell is a more error prone than Alonso and made an obvious mistake. Wind usually doesn't make the rear snap out at the last second like that. It usually induces understeer. Not that I thought about it that deeply. Either the car looked unstable or I'm just clairvoyant because thats the reality now.

I don't know where the 'ready for championships' came from but they've regressed from where they were and its worthwhile to talk about where they can go.

Sorry, "wall of champions". Bunch of drivers crashed there over the years. Schumacher, Alonso, Villeneuve, Hamilton, etc.

[-wkst-]

It's not like the first FW generation made miracles. They were always relatively slow in Q, but had better race pace. But also this advantage was getting smaller and smaller from race to race. Furthermore others brought big upgrades which worked, AMR not. That started already with the low DF rear wing in Baku. Krack admitted afterwards that they lost their advantage in the corners and traction zones with this wing. In my opinion Baku was pace wise not very much different from Spa, only that others successfully brought upgrades.