Everyone was relieved to see that the upgrades Aston Martin brought to the Hungarian Grand Prix showed a definite improvement in the car’s performance and gave hope that there would be something to salvage from what has been a dismal season so far. Lawrence Stroll looked to have pulled off the deal of century by securing the services of the legendary designer, Adrian Newey. Expectations for this season were incredibly high. The subsequent sight of Stroll and Alonso languishing hopelessly at the back of the grid, just about keeping up with the Cadillacs, was shocking.
Adrian Newey, Aston Martin.
One remark by Newey, however, shows that the canary that this author believes has been singing in the F1 coal mine, is still trilling away. Formula 1 is not paying attention to its song. Of course, the real problem is when the canary stops singing, but his very presence is a sign of potential danger. No one is listening for the canary; no one is learning the lesson that Newey was taught this year.
The Aston Martin F1 car.
Newey has expressed that he had the expectation when he moved to Aston Martin and that Honda would have the same engineers he worked with at Red Bull.
Honda engineers at work on the Aston Martin F1 car.
He was surprised to find that many of the engineers he knew were no longer working on the F1 Honda project.
He was apparently convinced that some of the most brilliant and in demand engineering talent Honda employed would have spent the intervening time sitting around, waiting to see if their F1 project would continue. This is the canary they refuse to hear.
Formula 1 was, is and always will be an extremely attractive challenge for any engineer. There is no doubt about it. The situation that has been emerging over the last couple of decades, however, is that it is no longer one of the few extremely attractive challenge for an engineer. Formula 1 teams are competing in a marketplace that offers a much wider variety of opportunities than in the 1990’s/early 2000s. The opportunities for innovative engineers are abundant, in and outside of the automotive industry.
The Honda engine.
I have no idea what the engineers formerly at the Honda F1 project are doing now, but they were not waiting for Adrien Newey to call. Let us hope Honda have managed to attract an equally talented team to take the project forward.
By Clare Topic
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