The intention behind Aston Martin's upgraded floor revealed

Aston Martin was the only team, aside from Red Bull, to introduce extensive upgrades at the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend.

The Silverstone-based team focused the efforts of the aerodynamic department to produce a visible evolution of the sidepods and the lateral portion of the floor in time for the race at Suzuka, alongside other micro aerodynamic interventions.

The new sidepods of the AMR24 present an upper profile characterised by a deep diagonal flare, which unmistakably resembles the same profile that debuted for the first time on the Red Bull RB18 two years ago and which had also featured on the RB19 last year.

The purpose of this deep flare is to generate downwash - a downward deviation of a portion of the airflow that touches the upper part of the sidepods.

In this way, Aston Martin's aerodynamicists tried to energise the flow that crosses the lower section directed towards the rear axle in favour of an increase in the aerodynamic load produced.

The upgraded floor

Connected to this modification is an evolution of the lateral edge of the floor, both in correspondence with the expansion profile which diverts the airflow (which is channelled by the vertical diverters underneath) outwards to effectively create a sort of pneumatic seal and keep away the turbulence generated by the rotation of the front wheels from the car.

Furthermore, even the rear portion of the floor in front of the wheels is now characterised by a diagonal slit instead of the perpendicular cut that was featured in the previous version.

This serves the purpose of not only increasing the effectiveness of the pneumatic seal in this area but also aims to maximise the performance of the rear portion of the floor at the level of the throat of the diffuser.

It is important to note that Fernando Alonso found the new package decidedly positive in terms of having a better balance and predictability surrounding the reactions of the car.

The Spaniard's AMR24 also proved to be quite fast and precise in direction changes as seen in the first sector of the Suzuka Circuit.

The impression that emerged on the overall effectiveness of the evolutionary package introduced was positive, although in terms of performance and especially in terms of race pace, the AMR24 still suffers from some weaknesses, chiefly compared to the McLaren MCL38 of Norris and Piastri.