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Aston Martin have been the biggest surprise in the 2023 season of Formula 1. While Max Verstappen and Red Bull unleashed their spell of domination, Fernando Alonso remained the second-most competitive driver on the grid. However, in recent races, the British team's form seems to have dropped off.
The Belgian Grand Prix saw the Spaniard finish only P5 and was more than a pit stop behind Lewis Hamilton (until the latter pitted for the fastest lap). This drop in performance also gave an opportunity for other teams like Ferrari and McLaren to improve their pace. However, Aston Martin's recent lack of pace has remained a mystery.
According to Formu1a.uno, the sidepod modification that Aston Martin introduced in Canada produced high downforce in the car, which was initially required for some tracks, but at the same time, the 'working window' apparently shortened.
This seems to have gone inversely in terms of the car's downforce and is the reason why their performance has reduced so greatly in the recent races. The team will be working on bringing out the performance, especially after Mercedes took the second-place spot in the championships standings.
AMR23 was more competitive in Spa, reveals Aston Martin boss
According to Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack, some changes were made in the AMR23's setup, which worked well in Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. However, the team still remained in fifth because Mercedes and Ferrari were far more competitive.
Krack stated that there was a positive response to the data that was collected during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, but owing to the fact that the team did not have any dry runs (except for the main race), the data that was collected was rather confusing. He said, according to Formu1a.com:
"The data seem positive from what we’ve seen. Still, we didn’t ride much in the dry, so our conclusion is provisional. The car here felt more normal and more competitive than before."
"After Silverstone and Hungary, we made some changes also in terms of setup, and here it paid off."
Aston Martin have certainly lost the lead they had maintained over Mercedes at the start of the season. They currently sit 51 points behind the Brackley-based outfit but could make their performance up later in the season.
