Aston Martin presented its real 2022 Formula 1 car because it is shaking it down on Friday as part of a dedicated push to get valuable early running ahead of pre-season testing.
The newly revealed AMR22 will run for the first time at Silverstone on Friday, almost two full weeks before the start of pre-season testing at Barcelona on February 23.
There have been suggestions over the last month that some teams had fallen behind schedule and fallen foul of failed crash tests because of the challenge of the all-new technical regulations.
But Aston Martin will be ahead of the curve with its shakedown, which will utilise one of two permitted filming days at which running is limited to a maximum of 100km on demonstration tyres.
That will allow it to troubleshoot any problems that emerge before six days of testing across Spain and Bahrain, which will be particularly important this year with so much to learn about the brand new cars.
Technical director Andrew Green said he is “really proud” that his team is poised to be the first to run a 2022 car on-track.
“Really what we wanted to do was shakedown as early as possible to check the systems on the car and give us some time between the shakedown and Barcelona test,” said Green.
“So that was the reason for shaking down tomorrow, so we have time to react. Hopefully, we have a good shakedown tomorrow, and there’s nothing to react to.
“Because the car is absolutely brand new, with no carryover at all, and pre-season testing is really short, and the second test is so close to the first race that it’s going to be almost impossible to react to, we thought it’s good to get a shakedown in prior to the first test.
“We give ourselves a gap between the shakedown and the first test to react to.”
That plan is also why – unlike F1’s first two car launches – Aston Martin opted to show off a real car is because it is ready.
Whereas Haas committed to digital renders of its VF-22 and Red Bull’s ‘RB18’ was just its 2022 livery on a basic show car, Aston Martin’s launch on Thursday featured the actual AMR22, complete with some vividly different design features.
Asked why his team shunned a more secretive approach, Green said: “Because we’re an honest bunch – we’re not trying to deceive!
“No, we had a car available. We didn’t want to do a livery launch. We’re beyond doing livery launches this year. We wanted to do the real thing.”
In becoming the first team to give a clear glimpse of its real design Aston Martin has revealed the major structural choices it has committed to, such as the sidepod design.
Other teams are expected to hide design elements because, at least at first, it is unclear what the correct approach will be in the new regulations and teams do not want to give away their solutions.
“We will see different approaches initially,” said Green.
“I think there are lots of different ways of approaching the problem with the 22 regulations. And I think initially you’ll see a few variations, some similar to a theme.
“But I don’t think it’ll be long before we all align, as far as the big visual aspects of the car [are concerned].”
