James Key: C44 is a completely new car

James Key, technical director of the Hinwil team now called Stake F1, spoke about the development process of the new car, the C44, and some of its design features.

James Key, technical director: “It’s always great to witness the birth of a new car. Of course, the team was already working on the C44 project when I joined, so I was already participating in the process. Overall we have to give credit to the team, they did a great job.

Hinwil has a great team, there is a very positive atmosphere within the team and everyone is determined to make progress. Naturally, the design and construction of a machine like the C44 is an extremely complex project, especially under current technical regulations. Therefore, it is extremely important to manage this process correctly, to provide guidance to the hundreds of people who put enormous efforts in the process of developing the chassis and ultimately building it.

The team chose a very ambitious direction long before I joined. In fact, the C44 is a completely new car, and only at the rear are some parts carried over from last year’s chassis. The chassis of the car has undergone significant changes: some are not visible from the outside, others are clearly visible.

For example, the front suspension is completely new and its development was a very difficult task for a team like ours. The aerodynamics have also been revised in many ways – as you would expect this remains the main focus of our efforts.

Overall, the car looks very different from last year’s C43. It embodies many new interesting solutions – they are all brought together and contain very serious potential. So we can’t wait to see everything on the track.”