Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll are both confident that Aston Martin did the right thing by abandoning one car concept to switch to another, despite no immediate lift in results. The current Aston Martin AMR22 is much-changed from the variation that started the 2022 season, a change that certainly got their rivals talking in the paddock. Red Bull were interested to see that the design bared a striking resemblance to their own RB18 with accusations that the Silverstone team were once against copying. Despite the claims, the FIA concluded ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix that no wrongdoing had taken place. Red Bull remains unimpressed. The change has not brought an immediate uplift in results, however, with Aston Martin having scored just one point during their two races running the new car concept, four fewer than the six they managed during their final two races running their initial AMR22 design.
Vettel: New concept will take time to show results
Vettel says it will take time for the team to prove that their new car concept with the progress they made with their initial design having been abandoned in favour of a fresh start. "We knew it was going to be a big package. It was an incredible effort to get so many pieces out and onto the track for both cars," said Vettel, speaking to select members of the media in Monaco, including RacingNews365.com . "Obviously, we haven't seen a massive step in performance just yet but it did feel a bit different. "I think the main thing was that the laps and the running really helped us to understand where the car now is and where we need to put it in the future."
How much potential does the new Aston Martin hold?
When asked how much potential he feels the car holds, Vettel said: "Well, we think a lot more, otherwise there was no point in changing it so much. "It's a completely different direction and we believe, or we're confident, it's the right one." His younger teammate Lance Stroll agreed, claiming that the new car concept is more upgrade-friendly and could allow them to make sudden strides. "I definitely think that there's more opportunity with this direction of development that we've taken, but it's early days," he said. "We're still learning a lot about our car."
The new Aston Martin concept was in the wind tunnel "very early"
Despite the paddock controversy caused by their sudden concept shift, Vettel says that both the old and new Aston Martin cars were being trialled in the wind tunnel long before the start of the season. The team then simply chose the wrong route. "I think with a previous car that we had, we saw that there were some difficulties, like other teams also are facing and struggling with," continued Vettel. "We didn't manage to really make big, big progress. We believe this is the better direction. "From a design point of view, we didn't want to be stuck having gone one way. I think both cars were in the [wind] tunnel very early." Stroll added: "We designed the car. The FIA have said that it is legal. Parts of it look similar, I guess, to the Red Bull, but it was us back at the factory that designed it. "I think the team did an incredible job."
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