The AMR24 is without a doubt one of the most aggressive looking cars on the grid with its striking sidepod inlets and undercuts. This design vision is similar to how the Silverstone base has planned to develop the car, with new parts coming to the first six of sevon races this year.

Speaking to Formu1a.uno at Imola, Dan Fallows stated that “at the start of the season, we wanted to make sure we had continuous updates coming. So this is probably our biggest to date. But it is only part of our plan, and we want to continue on this path also in the next races”. So with that, what did Fallows’ technical department bring to the first European race of the season?

• Front wing
• Nose (to suit changes to the front wing)
• Floor body, floor fences and edge
• Diffuser
• Engine cover
• Rear suspension (nothing structurally changed, just external fairings have been revised)
• Rear corner

One main goal of the AMR24 was to have the car working optimally at every race which was an issue which plagued last year’s AMR23 with it favouring slower speed circuits with high downforce. This year, it has been the opposite, with it naturally preferring high speed corners and circuits with many DRS zones thanks to its efficient DRS system.

At first glance, the upgrade list certainly follows the team’s plan of being aggressive, but did this translate to performance on track? So far. no.

As Mike Krack stated post-race, whilst the “car is still capable of doing things”, “we have also seen that it is difficult to drive”. That doesn’t bode well for the team, as Fernando Alonso, whom ended up in the wall at turn 18 during FP3, said he can “drive the car around the problems that we have, and that’s sometimes a good thing because I can drive any car at any moment and extract the 90 per cent of it.“. So if it’s too difficult for the Spaniard, who can?

FUNDAMENTAL WEAKNESSES

So what are the fundamental weaknesses of the car? It is quite hard to accurately say what they are, but we can make a guess.

First up is tyre degredation – the AMR24, for at least the first 5 races of the season, seemed to come alive during qualifying thanks to the tyres easily heating up and putting itself in a good operational window. However, the car didn’t work well in the race thanks to high tyre degredation. One reason for the high degradation may be the rear suspension developed and bought from Mercedes. The team based in Brackley also faces similar problems in that department. But, this is all just speculation.

An attempt for a temporary fix came apparent at the Imola Grand Prix, with Mercedes setting the car up to understeer which reduces the rear tyres from overheating thus reducing degradation. It seems that the Silverstone team tried to doing something similar but due to their weak front-end, the understeer was exasperated, making it nearly impossible to drive. The strength of the front end can be determined by the front wing, floor fences and the undercut. It seems a problem with the AMR24 currently is that their aggressive undercut cannot efficiently channel air into the rear, causing reduced downforce. Perhaps a tweaked setup with the new Imola upgrades will be able to fix these issues.

Another problem with the AMR24 is that unlike last year, the car slow speed corner pace is slow. Cars that have better slow corner speed tend to have strong mechanical grip which is influenced by suspension setup and geometry. Perhaps the poor rear suspension bought from Mercedes is a reason why. A strong rear suspension is important for these types of corners because of three main factors: weight distribution, where the car may not efficiently distribute the weight of a car during a corner causing reduced grip; instability, where the car’s unpredictable behavior may cause driver errors; and lack of traction, where the contact patch between the tyre and the ground is reduced, causing wheelspin and increased degredation.

With all that said, for the last two years Aston Martin has been held back by the purchased components from Mercedes, with this year’s rear suspension and last year’s gearbox being too bulky near the floor, decreasing airflow to the diffuser and therefore reducing downforce. To compensate for this, the rear wing had to be bigger on the AMR23 which increased the drag experienced. With 2026 being the first year of the green team becoming a works team and making their own components, it couldn’t come soon enough.

IMOLA UPGRADES

The upgrades brought to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix were certainly interesting and unique, with the most visible changes being the front wing.
The upgrade at (1) comprises of an extended nose with the carbon fibre section dropping below it. It’s most likely there to improve airflow to the floor.

At point (2) there is a “v” shaped profile implemented between the two upper flaps. Whilst it’s quite hard to tell what the main purpose is, it seems that it’s in line with the brake ducts, so perhaps it’s aiding with cooling. Another idea is that it is outwashing air, making it harder for the others car to overtake when they’re behind the AMR24. The outwashed air helps to create lower pressure around the floor edges which increases ground effect and diffuser efficiency.

At (3) the front wing end plate is now become a more traditional straight trailing edge. A characteristic of a straight trailing edge is that less vortices are generated which may be desired by the technical department as the vortices from (2) could coalesce with those from (3), making them “lossy” and turbulent.

Other upgrades brought at Imola is the floor and all related components. There are no new photos of the AMR24’s floor so it’s hard to say what they’ve done but it’ll be trying to maximize downforce. It could be said that the floor edges are to now be working in tandem with the front wing indentation and likewise with the diffuser and the floor.

(Engine cover has been revised to improve cooling options)
(Rear suspension fairings have been revised to improve airflow around rear wheels)

PHOTOS OF CAR

AMR24 in Imola

AMR24 in Bahrain