After a tally of five podiums in the first six races, the Spanish one is probably the first Grand Prix of this season in which Aston Martin has not impressed, collecting less than expected. The sixth and seventh place finishes signed respectively by Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso raised some doubts in the British team, above all for how this result was achieved, with a step away from that of the closest rivals.
Clearly, the Spaniard was partially penalized by Saturday’s negative qualifying which forced him to start in traffic, but this is only a partial reason for the difficulties shown by the AMR23. George Russell, who finished the Catalan race on the podium, had even started twelfth, behind the two-time world champion, while Lance Stroll in the early stages of the race had managed to climb even to third place, to then drop down to accuse a gap of forty seconds on the finish line from the first car of the Star.
Both Stroll and Alonso didn’t have the necessary pace on the softs in the early stages of the race to be able to counter Mercedes and Ferrari. The Team Principal of the Silverstone team believes that the fate of the race was partly marked by the lack of competitiveness of the first stint on the softer compound.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“There is a bit of disappointment with our pace, especially in the first stint on the soft tyres. Compared to some of our direct competitors, we honestly didn’t have the pace. And we have to understand why, given that at the start the gap was quite large and some cars more or less passed through us. And we have to understand why, given that at the beginning the gap was quite substantial. Some cars passed more or less in front of us. And we have to understand why,” explained Krack commenting on the Catalan performance.
Although it is true that there is some regret in not being able to start in the front rows with Alonso, slowed down by damage to the floor in qualifying which cost a couple of tenths, the Aston Martin Team Principal has not denied that, even in that situation, realistically it would have been difficult to be able to keep the Mercedes behind him.
“I think that if we had started second, it would have been difficult to keep the Mercedes behind in the initial phase of the race, the first 15 laps. I think that sometimes we were 5-6 or even 7 tenths slower. This is something we need to understand.” .
“I think in the end we were very strong on the hard tyres. But by then the damage was done. Although I think we shouldn’t call it damage. We finished with both cars and got 14 points. So, it’s not a drama at all.” .
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR23
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
While waiting for more in-depth analyses, one of the hypotheses put forward is that part of the gap was due precisely to the fact that we started in the middle of the group, especially on a track where overtaking isn’t easy and where staying in dirty air for a long time can compromise performance. tire health. However, as we have already seen in other rounds, when there was pace, the Aston Martin cars managed to move up the standings and Stroll’s performance, third in the early stages of the race, underlines the fact that the problems are gone beyond a simple matter of traffic.
“It plays a part, especially on a track like this. On the other hand, I think especially George (Russell) had a lot of traffic and managed to get back up. It’s true that as soon as the traffic cleared, we found ourselves in a better position. But we have to understand why we found ourselves in that position, because even in that stint (the first) we weren’t always in traffic”.
If the opponents have brought rather important packages in the last two races, Aston Martin has brought only small innovations, not even being able to exploit the wing that had been introduced in Baku. However, according to Krack the difficulties encountered by Aston Martin in Spain are not related to this aspect and he doubts that a simple package could have changed the values on the field and the order of the teams behind Red Bull.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR23
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“No I do not think so. Because if we look at the last part of the race, when we put on the hard tyres, for example, we were completely in the game against our rivals. So we have to understand well what happened in the beginning. It went from very sunny to overcast very quickly, which we thought would have favored the soft tyres. But we need to understand why. Above all because there was this difference in competitiveness in various moments of the race”.
However, the Team Principal agreed with Alonso’s words on Thursday, who had asked for a push from the team on the updates side. Aston has already established some time ago what its path will be with regard to the introduction of technical innovations and a new package will already arrive at the next appointment on the calendar in Canada: “(Alonso) You are right to ask us and push us about updates. There will be something in Canada,” added Krack.
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