Legend: I have unfinished business in Hinwil

Stake F1 technical director Jace Key returned to Hinvil last year, where he worked 12 years ago, and believes he now has the chance to complete what he couldn’t finish then.

Question: You have a lot of experience and have been involved in creating many cars for different teams, but do you still get excited when you see a new car being born for the first time?
James key: Of course there is always tension, but the most nervous moment for me is the first qualifying for the first race of the season, because it becomes clear what positions we take compared to our competitors. You still don’t know that after the winter tests.

You don’t know what your opponents are capable of, but they have performed the same tasks just like you, they have the same ambitions as you, they also want to move forward and make progress. In general, at this moment you always feel both excitement and inspiration: it is always nice to see a new car for the first time, because before that it existed mainly only in digital form and was only completed at the last minute before he went on the market. track. And when everything works as it should, it’s very nice to see.

Question: How does this car, the C44, differ from its predecessor?
James key: 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.

Q: Can you give some examples of what exactly has changed?
James key: Since 2022, when the new technical regulations came into force, the modernization of machines has been carried out at a very rapid pace and there is significant potential in many areas. It is likely that the existing trends will continue in the third year, but it is possible that someone will go against it, and this will have to be looked at closely.

Significant progress has been made in many areas in recent years, and I am confident that we will continue to see that this year. For example, our new car has a completely different front suspension, as it is now based on the use of rods – a similar solution is used by some other teams. This choice is determined by the requirements of aerodynamics, this is a very important project and here it is necessary to achieve the right balance.

But the team has done an excellent job on this very complex project and everything should work as planned.

Of course, aerodynamic considerations dominate, which is why many of the solutions you see generate downforce more efficiently. In particular, we are talking about machine body parts – they are more actively involved in this process than previous generation equipment.

You see some new trends emerging and the direction we have taken is much more aggressive than last year. This direction is new for the team, more in line with the main trends, but perhaps by developing it we have taken the next step forward. However, I’m sure some of our competitors are doing the same, and it will be interesting to see the results of their efforts.

Naturally, the underside of the car is mainly responsible for creating downforce, and here too we have opted for a new approach. In general, there are a lot of new things in the C44, and most of these solutions are not visible from the outside.

Q: Once the season starts, the modernization race begins. How will the team work in this direction?
James key: As in the previous two years, the intensive modernization will continue, but we are already seeing that the results in the championship are becoming increasingly compact. This was clearly noticeable at the end of last season, when the cars came very close in terms of speed, even though the power balance remained the same.

I foresee that this will all remain the same to some extent, but with new cars new opportunities may arise, this will be made possible by the knowledge built up in the previous season. We have drawn up a very aggressive plan, although I am sure many rivals also have similar plans, and the battle promises to be very fierce. It is possible that in the process of modernizing technology we can add some small, far from the most basic parameters.

Personally, I am not going to draw conclusions in the first half of the season, but closer to the second, because the general picture will of course change, and with it the balance of power.

Q: Your appointment last year was part of a large-scale restructuring of the team – what direction is its development as a whole?
James key: The team is developing quickly and I am very happy to be back at Hinvil. I have always believed that I have unfinished business here, and now I have a great opportunity to complete it. There are many familiar faces in the team, these people still work here, but there are also many new specialists. We are expanding our engineering department, we have new positions, we are looking for talented and experienced professionals who are ready to join the team of excellent engineers and designers already working in our team. Very interesting times await us.

Question: Of course you don’t know yet what your rivals are preparing, but still: what can you expect from the new car this season?
James key: Not only does the car look new, we can also expect it to be more efficient than last year’s, as we have made good progress outside the winter season. How noticeable progress we have made depends on our opponents, but let’s hope we did better than them!

We have drawn up a very clear plan for how we are going to act this season, we have tried to prepare for it as best as possible and the results of the modernization process will be visible in the very first races. I think everyone will see a very ambitious team with a new car, which has a lot of potential, and we all have a great desire to achieve better results compared to the ones we ended the last championship with.