A black Sunday. This is how the Aston Martin managers summed up their Sunday day at the Brazilian Grand Prix last weekend. It's hard to see it any other way because the problems came from everywhere, on both sides of the garage and both in qualifying and in the race.
In qualifying, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso took turns finishing in the background, forcing the mechanics to scramble to repair the AMR24s in time for the Grand Prix. Then, the Canadian did not even get past the 4th turn of the formation lap after an exit while the Spaniard complained of too violent bounces throughout, to the point of seeing him physically diminished at the finish, he who was already suffering from an intestinal infection when he arrived in Interlagos.
Quickly, the two drivers reported an identical problem to the team: a locking of the rear axle when braking. Perhaps at the origin of the misadventures of Lance Stroll, who became the laughing stock of social networks. “ In reality, it was difficult for all drivers, and we saw many lose control during qualifying and the Grand Prix – the new surface was very bumpy but also very slippery when the rain started to fallunderlines Mike Krack, team principal of Aston Martin. Our car is incredibly difficult to drive at the moment, which has amplified Lance and Fernando's problems. When I say we need to give them better tools, it's most evident on days like Sunday at Interlagos.. »
According to the first analyzes carried out back at the factory, Aston Martin explains that the vagaries of the rear axle of the AMR24 come mainly from the changes of parts carried out between the two Sunday sessions. Limited by its spare stock, the English team had no choice but to use old elements, thus reverting to an earlier version of its car, not at all suitable for the settings chosen for Sunday.
« However, we are not allowed to modify the mechanical settings of the cars before the race.continues Mike Krack. Difficult and wet weather conditions, an incredibly bumpy track, spare parts and a compromised mechanical setup meant that both cars were very susceptible to wheel locking and we can see in the data that this is what caused the incidents for both drivers. »
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