Aston Martin's AMR23 turns heads with a radically different design

Many are anticipating improvements from the Aston Martin team, who will turn up for the 2023 season with a '95% changed' car.

With the team already proving that they can successfully evolve a ground effect car over the course of 2022, there are high hopes that the trajectory will be continued into the new year, helped by Lance Stroll and new recruit Fernando Alonso.

But what design changes have they made to start this ascent? RacingNews365's technical expert believes they've taken inspiration from several sources...

Different concepts equate to a 'strange car'

In a way, it's a very strange car. There appears to be a few different solutions which have come from different concepts.

Starting from the front, the car hugely resembles last year's Red Bull, except for some fundamental differences, such as Aston Martin having push-rod suspension, and not the pull-rod setup seen on the Red Bull.

Sidepods

Looking at the sidepod inlets, they are horizontal and elongated, which is very reminiscent of Ferrari, and the resemblance continues with the sculpted upper profile of the sidepods, with a various gills placed within this profile.

There are also gills on the base of the engine cover, which resembles those used by Red Bull in hotter races, or in high-altitude races like Mexico.

The sidepods taper down in a similar way to the Red Bull, but the downward profile continues along more of the sidepod. It is a very different concept, and the way of managing the upper flow and hot air coming out of the sidepods is slightly different to Red Bull.

AMR23 Rear

The central section of the bodywork has protruding profiles on either side of the top of the engine cover, with the linked horizontal rear air vents looking similar to Red Bull's.

The overall concept is really a series of bits and pieces, which makes it difficult to determine how it will work together. Some elements would make sense if other elements were designed in a different way.

For example, the rear-end of the car keeps the same pull-rod suspension layout as last year, which is a sort of signature feature of Mercedes, who supply the power units, gearbox and rear components.

A hybrid of designs

The mixing and matching of a few aspects makes the AMR23 a curious car. I don't doubt that they know what they're doing, but I'll be interested to know how they are managing the air flow with this car.

Don't forget that the upper side of the car generates only a small part of the aerodynamic performance of the whole car.

There are concepts from the two cars that were in contention for last year's championship: Red Bull and Ferrari.