Aston Martin’s new AMR22 has run on track for the first time ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
Race drivers Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll drove the car in a shakedown test at Silverstone, near the team’s base. The car was launched yesterday.
“What we wanted to do was shake down as early as possible to check the systems out on the car and give us some time between the shakedown and the Barcelona test,” explained the team’s technical director Andrew Green.
“Because the car is absolutely brand new with no carry-over at all and pre-season testing is really short and the second test is so close to the first race, it’s going to be almost impossible to react to.
“So we thought it’s good to get a shakedown in prior to the first test, give ourselves a gap between the shakedown and the first test. That’s where we came to begin with the shakedown date. And it just made sense to launch the day before – the car was effectively ready so that was the logic behind it.”
Pictures: 2022 Aston Martin AMR22 on track
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X1Znet (@x1znet)
11th February 2022, 21:50
Any shots with the DRS open?
grat
11th February 2022, 22:08
All the clips are of it coming out of corners, so no.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
11th February 2022, 22:08
Just hoping it looks green on TV, and not black again this year. It was too easy to confuse with the Mercedes for my tired old eyes.
OOliver
11th February 2022, 22:12
Mercedes should be back to silver this year I believe
Anon
12th February 2022, 14:15
They’ve not confirmed either way yet
Asanator (@asanator)
11th February 2022, 22:11
That front wing does look strange being so high.
Gusmaia
11th February 2022, 23:22
Maybe it is a necessity, so the airflow gets into the floor behind and to produce the expected aero effect.
But it is really high.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
11th February 2022, 23:37
By recent standards, “High” is an understatement.
What would be a surprise is if the teams aren’t dragging the front wing on the road surface (again) by the time we get to the second race.
Absolutely fantastic that the AM Team has their stuff together to finish the car in time, get in a shake-down and be talking of what is coming next. You would think that there was someone, on a mission, that was “driving the bus”.
The next month is going to be awesome.
grat
12th February 2022, 1:44
There’s a minimum height, and few teams will be trying the extreme rake angle pioneered by Red Bull– even Adrian Newey admits that high-rake won’t play well with the new venturi tunnels.
Having said that, it does look like it’s about to take off.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th February 2022, 7:54
@asanator, I thought I was the only one to note front wing height.
Markp
11th February 2022, 22:13
Looks absolutely great. Getting early 90’s F1 vibes. Only really had this and McLaren photos of actual 2022 cars. (RB is the generic show car & Haas just a computer mock up). Look8ng forward to see McLaren on track. Look like very different philosophies so far which may mean some are right some wrong so maybe racing not that close?
N
11th February 2022, 22:36
Have to say new cars look awesome on track
Gusmaia
11th February 2022, 23:19
Yes. I dont know if they will work as expected, but I think it is an improvement, at least as a visual element.
Erzen (@xenn1)
12th February 2022, 13:49
Honestly even if they won’t work as expected, it will still be an upgrade over the previous aero regulations. The fact that we’re finally rid of the phallic “thumb tip” noses is a huge bonus for me personally. I absolutely love how the cars revealed so far have looked and i am proper excited for more!
SteveR
11th February 2022, 22:48
Kudos to Aston Martin for not playing the silly picture games other teams are playing. Actual car pictures! What an idea!
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
12th February 2022, 1:12
I think they’ve done an excellent job on the look of this car, if nothing else. Looks really smart and I love the colour. I hope it goes as well as it looks.
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
12th February 2022, 1:20
The proportions of the cars are vastly improved. The shorter wheel base and 18″ wheels are definitely doing it for me. The halo is more integrated with the lines of the bodywork and overall the regulations seem to have shaped a very nice looking car. Kudos to the FIA (and Aston Martin) on the aesthetics front. It looks great on track !
They are still too large overall and I fear their weight will continue to make them look sluggish in the slow stuff, but that is a known issue with no easy fix in the short term.
grat
12th February 2022, 1:46
And yet, my Volvo looks tiny by comparison. The wheelbase is nearly a full meter shorter (ok, it’s a C30, so that’s not too surprising, but still).
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31)
12th February 2022, 13:27
@aussierod Do you know how much they are shorter this year? Because they really look shorter and much more sexy.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
12th February 2022, 4:14
The return of Caterham
PT
12th February 2022, 7:10
Beautiful clean lines and the low and wide look – just love the AMR22, the new green shade, and the new regs.
PT
13th February 2022, 12:26
It seems that there is a black carbon extension from the sidepod intakes. Is it that they have just painted it black? Doesn’t seem so.