After Sebastian Vettel Makes Drastic F1 Retirement Decision, Aston Martin Discover “Game-Changing” Loophole With Latest Upgrade

The 2022 season, with new rules and regulation, have put each constructor on the grid in a race for car development. In this race, the Aston Martin features a major upgrade in Budapest this weekend, which has turned each head in the F1 paddock.

The green car on the grid has a new rear wing spec for the Hungaroring, which resembles a lot of the 2021 spec. It helps the team produce additional downforce which is really beneficial around this circuit. Even though the FIA passed the new part as a legal addition, many in the paddock believe it to be against the spirit of the modern regulations.

Renowned F1 reporter gives his take on the new Aston Martin rear wing

The Sky Sports journalist, Ted Kravitz, commented on this by saying, “Now Aston Martin have turned up here this morning with a different interpretation of the rear wing, those little armchair rear wing endplates. That effectively may mimic last year’s rear wing with a higher downforce, it obviously squares out the end plates. So it’s like a 2021 rear wing. I absolutely love it.”

“It catches more air. It stops the spillover of air from that rear wing main plate out to be lost or not worked by the rear wing to do any kind of downforce generation that we’ve seen on every other cars. [It’s] stopped the outwash, stopped the spillover and to regain a lot of the downforce they’ve lost since last year’s rear wing.”

In Free Practice 2, Sebastian Vettel clinched P7 and gave a glimpse of the pace of the advanced car under him. The German driver was on top of his car and was in high spirits following the session. The headline of the F1 world is his recently announced retirement. One can’t help but wonder that if these parts arrived early and boosted pace, would he have renewed his F1 contract?

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Yet, this is not the first time the Silverstone outfit has been the target of controversy this season. Earlier, they featured a new side pod design that resembled a lot of the Red Bull cars. Thus, earning them the title of ‘Green Red Bull’. We all wait to see if Lawrence Stroll‘s team has found a loophole in the FIA rulebook.

How does the new rear wing help Aston Martin?

A rear wing essentially helps an F1 car to increase drag and generate massive amounts of downforce, which helps the car to stick to the asphalt. The latest AMR22 rear wing has a unique arrangement on the front portion of the endplate that allows the main plane to fix up to it in a more traditional way. As a result, increasing its span and the downforce generated is multi-folds.

The part that stands out is the apostrophe-shaped rolled-over section that has required the designers to reinterpret the radius and curvature required within the regulations. Moreover, the team worked on airflow trajectory and pressure distribution by flaring out the rear portion of the endplate at the intersection with the monoplane’s trailing edge, in order that the two work harmoniously.

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However, a team usually requires a couple of race weekends to understand the parts added to their cars and maximize their performance with them. Hungarian GP would help them collect this data and build on the parts added to the car.

Presently, they are P9 in the constructors standing with 19 points to their name. The team has high ambitions of being on top of the grid for many years and has investment from the Canadian billionaire for the same. Do you think we can see the Aston Martin rise through the ranks this season?