Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has said that, with the current regulations staying stable, he doesn’t anticipate “major deviations” in the 2024 Formula 1 competitive landscape.
This year will be the third season under the current ground-effect rules, which have seen teams converge towards Red Bull-style underbody suction concepts for their car designs.
Mercedes and Ferrari were previously outliers with significantly different philosophies, but both outfits have committed to all-new concepts for 2024, and will almost certainly align more closely with the rest of the grid.
Krack said that, given there are no rule changes on the horizon that could catch teams out or upset the established order, any major shift this year would be a “surprise”.
“When you have stable regulations, like we have now, teams prefer to evolve,” Krack explained. “If you have a standout car like Red Bull, I think many will try to go in that direction.
“On the other hand, we hear from Ferrari and Mercedes that they will make very big changes in the concept. So, we’re curious to see what that brings.
“But I think overall, if you look at it historically, when technical regulations stay the same, the field tends to close up year-on-year.”
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23
With comprehensive regulation revisions not due until 2026 (when smaller, lighter cars with active aerodynamics and new power unit concepts come in), Krack expects teams to focus on improving their operations trackside to extract performance gains.
Given how tight qualifying was in the second half of 2023, with the top 18 cars separated by just 0.6s, optimizing strategies and reducing pitstop times could prove crucial.
“Operational stability will also become even more important because if the cars are that close, then really small details can make the difference in qualifying positions,” he continued. “I think the gaps in quali will get even tighter in the coming years. So, to go back to the initial question: I would be surprised if we saw major changes in the status quo.”
Additional reporting by Jake Boxall-Legge
Translation by Xiaofei Xiao