Aston Martin reveals AMR23 2023 F1 challenger | GRR
With the reveal of the Aston martin AMR23 and the 2023 Formula 1 season, we’re now into the second year of the new ground effect rules and crucially, year three of Lawrence Stroll’s original five-year plan for Aston Martin to be at the top of the grid, fighting for wins. As was ever the case, the boss man is going to want to be seeing the results. With Team Principal Mike Krack now thoroughly bedded in, the new 'game changer' Silverstone headquarters coming online and an experienced new driver in double world champion Fernando Alonso joining the squad, Aston is arguably in its strongest position yet to make moves.
On top of all that, then, we have this year’s car to consider. The AMR22 had a tough start last year but with development, it showing encouraging performance progress before the end of the season. Aston claims the AMR23 is a significant evolution from last year’s car, obviously incorporating regulation changes around the ride height, roll structure and rearview mirrors but primarily, with a hope to continue with the momentum that they began to build later last season.
“The second half of 2022 showed real signs of progress as we worked hard on car development,” Mike Krack said.
“For this year, our aim must be to build a car that can fully deliver on its performance potential from the first moment it hits the track. Making a strong start to the year, and then maintaining that momentum, is necessary if we are to make further advances towards the front of the grid.
In terms of the design, it's a real shake-up compared to AMR22. The main areas of change are around the new front wing, the new sidepods and new engine cover. Lower inner areas of the splitter give a cleaner flow of air through the suspension to the sidepods, at least on this show car.
Those sidepods are now heavily scalloped on the top, a-la last year's Ferrari, aiding the acceleration of airflow towards the rear of the car. The sidepod in profile however resembles the Red Bull in its downward-flowing form and somewhat the jutted chin of the intake. A Ferrari-Red Bull hybrid? Sounds like a winning combination if last year's results are anything to go by.
The side pods are complemented by the engine cover, which rearward of the snorkel seems to slightly billow outward into a mini pod of its own, atop which are the cooling vents and which flows to stop as air exits at the rear.
“The design team was adamant that it wanted to tackle these regulations without compromise,” said Dan Fallows, Technical Director.
“We want to move up the grid and start challenging the teams at the front – and you can’t do that by sitting back and being conservative.
“AMR23 is a significant development of the car we refined in the latter half of 2022 – and we have improved it in every critical area. It optimises the solutions we felt would offer us the most performance, and it embodies the joint vision we have embraced and have built together over the recent months.
“Now we need to focus on delivering an ambitious yet efficient programme of updates for the first race and across the remainder of the season.”
In terms of the livery, there's not much change, with the distinctive Aston Martin green and Cognizant and Aramco title sponsorship dominating. There's less lurid yellow/green highlight too.