Apr.14 (GMM) Aston Martin has the heaviest car on Formula 1’s 2022 grid – but Red Bull isn’t far behind.
But while Red Bull’s reigning world champion Max Verstappen is still competitive, the same cannot be said of Aston Martin – particularly after the team’s nightmare Australian GP.
“The car has potential, but we have problems with aerodynamics and weight,” admitted new team boss Mike Krack.
“We’ve already made progress with weight, but not with the aero. The bouncing is like a wall for development. It’s very frustrating.”
One analysis shows that Aston Martin’s car weighs 815kg – some 17kg over the minimum weight which was raised by a further 3kg just prior to Melbourne.
Red Bull comes next at 810kg, followed by Mercedes (806), McLaren (805), Haas (803), and Williams, Alfa Romeo and Alpha Tauri (all 800). Championship leader Ferrari’s car also tips the scales at a reported 800kg.
“Our car clearly weighs more than Ferrari,” Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko admits. “I think there’s a gap of about 10kg.
“If we translate that into laptime, it’s about 3 tenths per lap. Losing weight, however, is expensive. It’s primarily a financial issue but also linked with reliability factors.
“It’s a difficult problem to solve due to the budget cap,” the Austrian added.
One of the lighter teams, at about 800kg, is Alpine, whose CEO Laurent Rossi is opposed to moves by some other outfits to see the budget cap raised due to inflation.
“Rules are rules,” Rossi said. “It would be wrong to start watering down the concept of the budget cap now.
“Formula 1 is so interesting at the moment because the big teams can no longer put as much money into their cars as they used to. If it’s really just about the freight costs, then we’d have to make sure a subsidy is used exclusively for that.”