McCullough: We will bring a new version of the rear wing to Baku

The three weeks remaining until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will see the Formula 1 teams devote themselves to working on technical innovations. They are mainly associated with efforts to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of cars, and Tom McCullough, who is responsible for chassis upgrades at Aston Martin, spoke in an interview with Spanish newspaper AS about how the AMR23 is being finalized.

But he started with the fact that he mentioned the landmark by which you have to keep the course while refining the car.

“Red Bull Racing has a very efficient car, also very fast on the straights. On the Albert Park track, the role of DRS is huge, because there are four zones in a relatively short lap where the riders activated this system, McCullough reasoned, speaking of the main rivals. – Most likely, the speed advantage of the RB19 is mainly due to the efficiency of the aerodynamic body kit. I don’t have exact data, but I compare Red Bull with other cars that have the same Honda powerplants.

However, Red Bull had an excellent chassis last year. Aerodynamic efficiency is a key success factor at circuits like Baku and Miami, but then we see races in Monaco and Barcelona where the impact of this factor will be somewhat less.

The first three stages of the championship are generally not entirely typical compared to the rest of the calendar routes. But there are still many races ahead where aerodynamic efficiency will have less of an impact on the result, but when developing the car we focused on the season as a whole.

The three weeks separating us from the next phase create a favorable situation, and we must make the most of it. The more research time you have, the more wind tunnel sessions you can have and the more solutions you can analyze.

Each week in our research, we look for possible ways to improve the chassis, which could yield significant speed gains, but we must bear in mind that we are limited by budget. We will bring certain novelties to Baku – now everyone is preparing them. Our job is to close the gap to Red Bull in the corners as well as on the straights.

Mercedes and Ferrari have been on the same level since pre-season testing. Between their cars there are some differences in efficiency, which appear when taking different types of turns. The results on the circle are similar, but they are achieved in different ways.

If we talk about our AMR23, it handles corners better, although it does not differ in excellent speed on the straights. Last season we experimented a lot with the rear wing to find the best solution for most circuits, but it paid off.

This year we had the same rear wing for all three first races, but we will bring a new version to Azerbaijan, as the Baku circuit requires a very efficient aerodynamic body kit. But it must be emphasized that when drawing up a plan to upgrade the car, we always keep in mind that the team’s budget is limited.