Exclusive: De La Rosa lifts lid on Aston Martin performance slump

Aston Martin got off to a great start in the 2023 havingestablished themselves as the 'second best' car on the grid. TheAMR23 was the only one that came close to the dominant RB19, andwas credited with having followed some of their lead with cardesign. The downwash sidepod concept was visibly more aggressive onthe AMR23, but it provided Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll withthe stability to push the tricky Pirelli tyres. The former even hadtime to do some PR over the team radio while he was on his way to apodium finish in Bahrain, describing it as a "lovely car to drive."Fast forward to the midway point of the season and Aston Martinfind themselves in a development war with Ferrari, Mercedes andMcLaren. Between the Austrian and Qatar Grands Prix Alonso only hadone podium, after lucking in at the Dutch GP during the red flag.The next low point would be at the USA and Mexico, which weremarred with double retirements for Alonso. Aston Martin slumpeddown from third to fifth in the Constructors' Championship. Teamambassador Pedro De La Rosa puts their mid-season slump down to theoutfits struggle to understand their updates, particularly to thefloor which triggered their downward spiral. "There were otherteams that did a better job, especially at that mid-part of theseason with the upgrades. We lacked track time to understand manyof our upgrades and that cost us a few races," says De La Rosa, inan exclusive interview with RacingNews365 . "In Austin we had tostart from the pit lane and then in Mexico as well. So in thoseraces which were just understanding the package. We had no testavailable and it was a big mixture of teams making big upgrades,them [updates] working immediately, and us having to understandthem to make them work. "Those two or three races that we were justtrying to understand them, cost us a lot of points and a bit ofunderstanding time. But we eventually bounced back." Articlecontinues below photo. Understanding these updates is what set themback to Ferrari and Mercedes at crucial moments in the season. "Thething is, where we are and where we were on the grid, within two orthree tenths of us there were 10 cars," says De La Rosa. "Someteams make a bigger upgrade, you're trying to understand your ownupgrades and optimise your setup, then suddenly you lose two-threetenths. Then suddenly you're out of the points by a big margin." DeLa Rosa reveals that Aston Martin were also set back by their lackof car setup optimisation, owing to the differences between theAMR22 and AMR23. "During some races we were just trying tounderstand and optimise our car setup. If you have two or threetenths in your pocket, no one will notice all your learningprocess. We were just in the under spotlight on that on that,"explains De La Rosa. "It was extremely stressful for the team andthe drivers. We were going into qualifying in Sao Paulo and wehadn't tried the Medium compound tyre on this for the SprintShootout. "We just had to qualify on the Mediums and we hadn'ttried a single set of Mediums during the whole weekend. So it was afantastic season, but we tried to do a lot of things in very littletime and just we took many risks. Possibly these risks were notshown to the public." We took many risks. Possibly these risks werenot shown to the public. Pedro De La Rosa The song 'Seven NationArmy' by the White Stripes has become the soundtrack for those whobring hope to the underdog. This is the chorus that rang out to thelyrics 'Oh Fernando Alonso' during their run of podiums at thestart of the season. It also rung through the pit lane when hepulled off an audacious move on Sergio Pérez in the closing stagesof the Brazilian GP to seal his final podium of the year, with thepair separated by just 0.053s at the line. For De La Rosa this wasa personal highlight, but not so much for the photo finish: "Thatwas really exciting for the fans! But I think the team went homeunderstanding the upgrades that we had brought in the previousraces, making them work, we qualified third and fourth, andeventually on the podium with Lance [Stroll] fifth. "I think thatwas a huge credit to the whole teamwork that had been going on. Notonly at the races, but especially at the simulator and back in thefactory. "It just proved that we had understood the problems,understood the aero package, where the car was working, what typeof setup was required, and that was a very important to turn thingsaround." Understanding those updates came at a pivotal moment forAston Martin, as it enabled them to get back on track as theycommitted resources to their car for 2024. "But also to understandthe development of the car for the future. That's why for me, itdoesn't really matter all the podiums in Bahrain or others we had,"explains De La Rosa. "That was really nice, but I think the factthat we understood our car, our aero package from Sao Pauloonwards, was very beneficial for the future and was a huge personalmoment for the team for everyone involved."