Aston Martin has predicted it will be in 2025 before enthusiasts see the advantages of having their own wind tunnel, but it could take longer to see the full effect.
The team opened its new factory in September 2021 after the base of ‘Team Silverstone’ since 2018 when Lawrence Stroll and his Racing Point team bought the Force India team that was under management.
The base, which sits opposite the Silverstone circuit, originated in 1990 when it was built for use by the Jordan F1 team, but 32 years have passed since then and although the call on the front of its construction has been frequently replaced, the base is largely not.
With aspirations above its existing station, Stroll-funded Aston Martin and its ambitious aim to be a named competitor, it has announced the creation of a new £150-200m campus around the existing base which will house a new factory as well as its own wind tunnel.
Aston Martin has lately used Mercedes’ wind tunnel, which is 13km down the A43, but believes that having its own in-house facilities will particularly increase its chances of achieving Stroll’s lofty goal.
PlanetF1. com was part of a media delegation that arrived at the site shortly after the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and lately there are still more helmets than racing helmets on display, Aston Martin predicted the wind tunnel would be operational. 2024.
Dan Fallows, who left Red Bull to sign up for Aston Martin’s assignment in 2022, said he believes the first car to take advantage of the wind tunnel would be the AMR25.
“The purpose of the wind tunnel is to be online until mid-2024,” he told media outlets such as PlanetF1. com. “So we hope to have at least one contribution to AMR25.
“I think depending on how the start-up goes and the tunnel stuff, this will be the first car that will have a significant impact on a new tunnel.
“As for the plant itself, obviously, it will be commissioned next year, with other stages. So we expected the previous car to see the benefits of the factory as well. “
If Aston Martin never achieves a named competitor, it may not be for lack of trying. The resources, both monetary and personnel, that have been invested in the allocation are unlike anything else on the grid.
From taking Red Bull’s Fallows and former Red Bull designer Andrew Alessi to building the new factory and wind tunnel, it looks like Aston Martin is taking the right steps to fight on the most sensitive side of the grid.
Fallows is perhaps the most productive guy to pass judgment on this kind of progress after being at Red Bull following its acquisition of the Jaguar team and has been part of five drivers’ world championships and four constructors’ championships.
He himself felt an atmosphere in the early days of Red Bull and Mike Krack and Stroll expect it to deliver.
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