Why Aston Martin used its first prank so early

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Formula 1 teams are often afraid to use the two “curfew” jokes they receive per season. While there is nothing wrong with using them when needed, teams also know there is a high risk of not having them in stock at the end of the season.

Because when the fight for points gets tough, the last thing a team would want is an unexpected late-night job to trigger a grid penalty that could ruin their entire year’s efforts.

For this reason, jockeys are often only used in extreme emergencies very early in the season – such as Williams, who switched his car to Logan Sargeant in Australia after Alex Albon’s practice crash on Friday.

So it was interesting that Aston Martin also used one of its jokers at the Japanese Grand Prix, especially since there was no unexpected drama on the track.

But the team wanted to make sure it didn’t have to rush Fernando Alonso’s car to the latest upgrade package on qualifying day.

Aston Martin: Quality control first

Executive director Tom McCullough explained the early use of the Joker: “We never wanted to do that. But when we looked at the scope of work, we realized that it would not be possible to make everything work well with the customization and finishing of the cars, and there were some parts that had to be combined on the chassis and so on.”

Team boss Mike Krack added: “You have to take everything off and then put it back on. And then a lot of the time it goes into quality control. Is everything in the right place? Are all the parts 100 percent fit?”

“If the quality isn’t right and you drive the car the next day and one car is the same and the other car measures something different, then that’s the worst case,” says Krack. “Measuring and quality control is crazy sometimes: how much you have to check and double check and check again.”

But Aston Martin’s decision not to compromise on quality had another reason: it was to ensure that the road to improvement this year produces a different result than last season.

The story of the team in the 2023 season was one of a car that was very competitive at the beginning of the season with rivals like Ferrari and McLaren falling behind, but lost their way when the improvements created the so-called “effects” that affected the car and made it look a little lost.

Just don’t risk driving as fast as 2023

In the middle of the season, the team had to spend a lot of time trying to understand what was going on. Aston Martin has found the answer, but it doesn’t want to experience driving like that again. That’s why the company is taking a more holistic approach to its 2024 development plan.

But that doesn’t mean they have to be more careful when introducing new features, because the timing of Suzuka updates was big due to the calendar.

“You’re always trying to get a spot on the track as quickly as possible,” explains McCullough. “We had a package to bring (to Japan), but it was very tight. But because the next two races were sprints, we didn’t want to do that there.”

In fact, Aston Martin’s refinement policy paid off in Japan, as Alonso experienced one of his best weekends to date, finishing sixth – proof that work at the factory has a positive effect on performance on track and that AMR24 looks to be the best platform.