Apparently, Mercedes and Aston Martin had a pretty good fight this year for a P2 finish. In the end, the Silver Arrows secured second place in the constructor’s title. On the other hand, Aston Martin dropped down to P5 at the end of the season. Talking about the same, Mercedes’ boss, Toto Wolff recently talked about the value of a P3 finish means wind tunnel time. The most preferable situation for Mercedes would be to receive both the bonus money that comes with the P2 finish and the wind tunnel time. But they had a tough year because of the car.
As per recent rumors, the German team is trying to develop a car to help Lewis Hamilton win his eighth title. On the other hand, Aston Martin will try to provide the Spaniard with a car that would help him finish regularly on podiums. Moreover, the two old horses would love to end the hegemony of the young triple-time champion Max Verstappen. There’s one more thing common between Hamilton’s and Alonso’s teams. That’s the same wind tunnel last season.
Mercedes And Aston Martin Try Their Best To Avoid Tunnel Meetings
Hamilton and Alonso’s teams share the same wind tunnel in recent times. But they took extreme measures never to cross paths. Three seasons ago, the British team returned to the Formula One grid. Since then, Mercedes has been providing them with power units. They have been sharing the same wind tunnel. Later, Aston Martin built their own powertrains at the Silverstone headquarters early on in 2023. At the Mercedes base, they took plenty of measures to prevent crossing paths when they used the same tunnel for testing. Tom McCullough of Aston Martin revealed they even built separate access doors. The Performance Director of Aston Martin also said these doors would guarantee the right level of confidentiality.
Moreover, McCullough told Motorsport.com that FIA can be strict as they send Dominic Harlow for inspections. But the Aston Martin performance director said it is shut down to one and open to others with Mercedes. There are different access doors with different people running the sessions. Moreover, McCullough mentioned their relationship with Mercedes in terms of confidentiality is pretty robust from that end. Adding to that, the Aston Martin director said FIA could come and police all that. It is quite similar to the confidential boundaries between the two Red Bull teams.
Besides Red Bull, Other Teams Like The Silver Arrows, Ferrari, McLaren And Aston Martin Had Pretty Close Fight
Ferrari had a close finish to Toto Wolff’s team. The Italian team ended in P3 with 406 points. But the German team ended in P2 with 409 points. On the other hand, Aston Martin only managed to earn 280 points. However, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had a good fight for a P3 finish in the Driver’s championship with his old foe Lewis Hamilton.
In the end, it was the Mercedes star who finished at P3. Needless to say, the Red Bull drivers enjoyed a one-two finish in the season for the first time in the team’s history. Clearly, the Austrian team is enjoying complete domination. But Toto Wolff expressed his regret recently for finishing at P2 in the constructor’s titles. A P2 finish means bonus money as a prize.