They have way more and better people working at the car now than they had during the Pink Mercedes days, so I don’t think it’s that simple.
The first place to look is money, I think - the budget cap. It’s possible they spent a majority of their available development budget for the season over the winter just to get this platform ready.
Let’s also look at RB’s advantage and be realistic. From the start AM have said they want to be winning races in a couple of years, not this year. Considering the gap, trying to spend money on development for this year is honestly just wasteful. Nobody is going to catch Red Bull and if AM were actually trying to they’d be making a mistake.
All development should focus on next year and beyond. If any of that can be translated to upgrades that can be fitted immediately then great, but the only priority should be the future, as sad as that will be for the remaining races of this season.
They have way more and better people working at the car now than they had during the Pink Mercedes days, so I don’t think it’s that simple.
The first place to look is money, I think - the budget cap. It’s possible they spent a majority of their available development budget for the season over the winter just to get this platform ready.
Let’s also look at RB’s advantage and be realistic. From the start AM have said they want to be winning races in a couple of years, not this year. Considering the gap, trying to spend money on development for this year is honestly just wasteful. Nobody is going to catch Red Bull and if AM were actually trying to they’d be making a mistake.
All development should focus on next year and beyond. If any of that can be translated to upgrades that can be fitted immediately then great, but the only priority should be the future, as sad as that will be for the remaining races of this season.