The Aston Martin wind tunnel is now operational. This is one of the team’s great hopes, and it is also a source of delight for Fernando Alonso. Although it still needs to be “optimized,” the current work is nothing like what they had to do before when they had to share it with the Mercedes team and could only run it between Friday and Sunday.
Aston Martin will no longer share the wind tunnel with Mercedes: they now have their own creation
As such, and in the same way as with their new factory, which is already up and running at full capacity, this wind tunnel is the team’s own creation, which will give them much greater independence, and will be even bigger in 2026, when they become the factory team for Honda.
All this will allow them to shake off the label of being a customer team, as they have been doing since 2021, their first year as Aston Martin after the acquisition of Racing Point, a team that was owned by various investors.
As Andy Cowell mentioned, the Silverstone wind tunnel is up and running and they have tested an old specification, which is what the FIA allows in these cases. The new tunnel has already been nominated and registered for use and will contribute to the continued development of the current AMR25 and, above all, the AMR26, which is raising so many hopes thanks to the change in regulations.
However, the initial data from Brackley and the new Silverstone wind tunnel do not match
The problem, however, is that when the initial data was entered, it did not match the data from the Brackley factory, which was then used and shared with Mercedes, and the new Silverstone wind tunnel.
In other words, the correlation of the data obtained between the two wind tunnels does not match. This is a complicated scenario for the British team, although it could also be an opportunity for improvement in the future.
For all these reasons, the team will have to adjust its simulations and correct any problems in the development of the car. In any case, as we have said, there are two possible scenarios. One is that they may find themselves without a reliable basis for development, which seems unlikely at this point. Or, on the contrary, they may have an idea of where the problems are coming from, since the error could be in the Mercedes wind tunnel and not in the Aston Martin one.
In any case, as Mike Krack said before the start of the season, it is not strictly necessary to blame any mistakes on this new creation. “Like any new tool, you have to learn how to use it properly. It’s not a matter of turning it on and instantly getting better results or greater reliability,” said the then team principal.
“Like any new tool, you have to learn how to use it properly.”
In March, the British team’s managers responded in this way to their own installation. “We will now have the same number of tests, depending on our position in the championship, but we will be able to enter and exit the tunnel according to the strategy defined by Eric Blandin and the aerodynamic team,” said one of the key figures in the team driven by Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
However, they already acknowledged that they still needed to “optimize it”: “It will take time to optimize the wind tunnel, but we are already taking advantage of it and getting excellent data. It’s a big step forward for the team,” they said.
Aston Martin is aware that there is very little to salvage from its performance in the last World Championship. With a pace similar to that of the cars at the back of the grid and a complex car to drive, 2025 is proving to be fairly consistent in this respect, and there has been no big news for the current AMR25. But it’s not all doom and gloom at the Silverstone team, as it will be Adrian Newey himself who will help change the direction the team has taken this year.
“Having our own wind tunnel will reduce the stress of the operation, but it will also allow our aerodynamicists to be more creative,” said Mike Krack. ”Everything will be very close by: the model shop is right next to the tunnel. We can stop production, wait an hour or two while new parts are produced, and then start again.”