Aston Martin is refusing to follow the path taken by its rivals in switching their primary focus to the 2024 car.
Team principal Mike Krack has insisted the team is “not switching off the tap”, and that development will be “full on” for the AMR23 once the summer shutdown concludes ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix later this month.
That is in stark contrast to a number of other teams who made clear across the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix weekends it was important to now switch to next year’s car, albeit whilst still understanding this year’s machinery given the base it will provide.
With four very different circuits to start the second half of the campaign in Zandvoort, Monza, Singapore and Suzuka, Krack said: “If you want to play a role in the championship, you have to be strong everywhere. You cannot just go for this track or that track.
“Zandvoort and Monza are very different, and Singapore and Japan are also very different, so you need to perform well on all four.
“You need to have a package ready that allows you to go from low drag to high efficiency, to high downforce, to maximum downforce.
“It (the car) has to behave well everywhere, which has to be the basis, and then obviously you will do your wings to adjust to the certain tracks.”
For Krack and his team, one of the reasons why development will continue is due to the fact the team failed to build on its stunning start to the season in which Fernando Alonso scored six podiums in the first eight races.
The Hungarian GP, in particular, proved to Krack and the technical team that a combination of upgrades and set-up changes had proven Aston Martin had “not gone in the right direction”.
At least in the following race in Belgium, and the last before the summer break, the team managed to again take the right path – “part one of the catch up”, according to Krack.
Although there will be “no magic bullet”, he added: “We have set up a development plan, based on continuously developing the car, and we will follow that.
“Obviously, we need to see what direction we take depending on what happens but, all in all, we have the development race.
“We have 10 times more points than we had at this stage last time (year), and we are P3 in the (constructors’) championship.
“Expectations rise, obviously, with your results, but we must not forget where we have come from.
“In all the push, push, push for development, we also have to realise we have made big steps. It is important to zoom out and see what you have achieved.”
Given Alonso’s stunning run of form at the start of his time with Aston Martin this season, there was obviously considerable hype surrounding the two-time F1 champion and a resurgent team.
Krack was always mindful, however, as to how long the hype train would continue to run, with Aston Martin caught and passed by rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.
“I always said at the beginning of the year, when we had podium, podium, podium, there would be more difficult times,” he said.
“They came much quicker than we wanted them to come, but this is the reality of Formula 1. It is very competitive.
“With other people developing hard, you saw a change in the pecking order. Just to stay where we were needed an incredible amount of work.
“It shows that everybody is pushing really hard and flat out, so we knew it was not going to be easy all season.”
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