Aston Martin has committed to its Suzuka floor at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Autosport has learned, as the team continues its hunt for answers as to why its 2024 car has fallen back.
The Silverstone-based squad introduced a new floor specification at the United States Grand Prix as part of a major development package introduced for Austin.
The changes were quite extensive and included revisions to the main floor body and the floor edge, as well as alterations to the roof and sidewall of the diffuser.
However, the team’s package of tweaks did not deliver the step forward hoped for, which prompted some deep analysis of the changes over the Mexico weekend.
The conclusion from that work was that while a majority of the new parts had brought an improvement, the Austin floor itself was not a net gain.
For Mexico, Aston Martin experimented with various previous floor steps it had and eventually decided that the version it originally brought to the Japanese Grand Prix in April was best suited to complementing the rest of the new specification.
As Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack conceded after Mexico about not all the new upgrade working: “You've seen, for example, the front wing stayed on, but other parts we could not keep.”
Autosport understands that the team is sticking with that Suzuka floor for this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, as it feels the nature of the Interlagos circuit will be better for it.
However, as Krack explained recently, the likelihood is that it could change specification again for the next races in Las Vegas and Qatar – which are both high-speed venues that require different characteristics from the car.
“There is a very high-speed track with Qatar, for example, where we might choose differently,” he said. “Then there is Vegas, which has a lot of low-speed [corners]. So I think we have to decide based on that.”
Aston Martin’s move in rolling back its floors is far from ideal, but the team hopes this will help gain some understanding of the factors at play with its car that can help it with its 2025 challenger.
The Suzuka floor came at a stage of the season where Aston Martin seemed to show some potential and was pretty much battling Mercedes at the time.
While Aston Martin finished on the podium at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix with Fernando Alonso, it is not anticipating being as strong this time out.
Speaking in Brazil on Thursday, Lance Stroll said: “We're in a different situation to where we were last year. We had a good car here last year, so when the car's good, those results come. When the car's less competitive, it naturally just becomes harder for those results to come.
“Let's see, though. It's a great track. I always enjoy coming here. It's got a great rhythm and flow, and it's a lot of fun to drive. And maybe a bit of weather to mix things up, which always makes it interesting and presents opportunity.”
