Aston Martin has a ‘good’ budget to spend on developing a 2023 car

In brief

Aston Martin is teasing development spending later this year

Aston Martin remains in a position where it has money to spend within its 2023 budget on car development and plans to use it later this year.

The team started this season second fastest on the grid but have since slipped. However, they feel confident that they will find more pace with the development opportunities they still have available to explore with their Aston Martin AMR23.

“There’s never one thing and I think it’s often dangerous to hone in on one thing [to improve on]Aston Martin director Tom McCullough told RaceFans.

“Our job is to understand what we actually did in our car on track, relative to the development tool, where our relative competitiveness in low, medium, high [speed] corners, straight line speed – with and without DRS. Obviously each piece has different requirements as well. So that side of the analysis, I think we understood what we were doing in the car.

“The developments coming in the second half of the season already concern certain areas. Of course you try to address the areas where you are not so strong. I think really from Zandvoort onwards, we will have some continued development as we have done all year. We still have a good budget to continue developing our car hard. And this is our plan for the second half of the season.”

Rust leaves McLaren’s FE team

Rene Rust has left the McLaren Formula E team after just one season with the team, but he already has plans elsewhere for 2024.

The German first raced in FE in 2016, then spent a season and a half with the Abt-run Audi team and took two podiums. After a year out, he returned to the championship with McLaren for 2023 and took a fastest lap and a podium in his first three races with the team before they lost competitiveness and went on a ten-race run without scoring points.

McLaren said they are “working behind the scenes to ensure the best possible driver line-up for Season 10 and we are excited to announce the full driver line-up for the 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season in due course”.

Silverstone will pay parking fines for locals from the British GP weekend

Silverstone, the circuit that hosts the British Formula 1 Grand Prix, will pay the parking fines for residents of the village of the same name after they were caught out by a temporary traffic order during the grand prix weekend.

This placed parking restrictions on local streets, some of which are commonly used by residents who park on the streets next to their homes. But during the British GP weekend they were not allowed, a restriction aimed at visiting spectators seeking to avoid using the circuit’s pay-to-access car parks.

A total of £1,5000 of fixed penalty charges were issued to locals, with 33 fines, and locals said it was a problem they had never experienced before. The circuit responded by saying “the penalty notices received [from locals] are being processed, with refunds issued five days after the information is received.’

Connections

Racing links of motoring interest:

YouGov Sport study shows financial impact of Hydro X Prix (Extreme E)

“The Economic Impact Study shows that the Hydro X Prix series delivered a total economic boost of £31.06m to Scotland. Extreme E ran at the former Glenmuckloch opencast mine in Dumfries and Galloway. The former coal mine is to be converted into a pumped storage hydroelectric station and wind farm, in line with the league’s focus on renewable energy solutions.”

Van Hoepen ‘going in the right direction’ with De Vries support on track (Formula Scout)

“Laurens van Hoepen benefited from the support of recently lost F1 driver Nyck de Vries at Paul Ricard as he provided valuable advice and encouragement while keeping himself firmly in the background. While de Vries doesn’t get involved in debriefings, for example, he can provide “a different perspective and some interesting views for me to take in the engineering meetings, but also to look at the execution plan and things like that. ‘.’

Where is F1’s US baseline now? (Rotor)

“Last year saw the highest average audience for F1 in the US with 1.24 million, and this was boosted by 2.6 million tuning in for the opening Grand Prix of Miami. ESPN considers it an anomaly, but the same race still drew 1.96 million in 2023, and together with Monaco (1.79 million) and Canada (1.76 million) are the second, third and fourth largest televised audiences of all ages. But that drop in Miami’s rate means the year-over-year average is down slightly to 1.28 million at this point last season.”

Rural farm life and city life: Paul Aron growing up in Estonia (FIA Formula 3)

“Paul Aron puts Estonia at the forefront of the Formula 3 racing map this season and heads into the final round of his rookie campaign firmly in the battle for the top three. Before the Prema Racing driver heads to Monza, he takes us on a trip back home to Tallinn, Estonia. Mercedes junior gives the lowdown on where to visit, Estonian culture and, unsurprisingly, the motor racing scene.

Insider: What’s next in Alex Palou’s latest contract dispute with McLaren and Ganassi? (Indy Star)

“According to a letter Brown sent to his employees on Friday, McLaren believed Palou had been categorically ruled out to run in IndyCar alongside O’Ward and Alexander Rossi in 2024 with a signed contract. The deal would tie Palou’s F1 back-up driver deal to more private testing and training shortly after Palou (almost certainly) lifts the Astor Cup on September 10. To bolster its claims, McLaren also said it had already started paying Palou.

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🔙 Rio Cuarto was a party, and we leave you some 📷 to keep you enjoying it 😎#FormulaNacional 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/sEAWnyH0im

— National Formula (@F20Official) August 15, 2023

of the millions the W series still owes, here are some of the more interesting creditors and what they owe
Billy Monger £38,000
BTC £26.95
BRSCC £53,291.59
Barcelona-Catalonia Circuit £66,062.21
Good times £5,649
Hankook Motorsports £68,708.28
Hungaroring £7,620.06

— Ida (@wood_ida_) August 14, 2023

Did seeing Armstrong’s car on Saturday remind anyone else of this?#IndyCar pic.twitter.com/rZxrYuXRAk

— Edward Olmos (@EOlmos) August 15, 2023

Freaks are “Naming the #IndyCar Mount Rushmore”

Tell us who is or isn’t HERE 👉🏾 https://t.co/NVBVGJvPum pic.twitter.com/9sn22aEKy7

— SpeedFreaks (@SpeedFreaks) August 15, 2023

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