Aston Martin F1 at a loss to explain Spanish GP soft stint woes

Aston Martin F1 Struggles to Explain Soft Stint Issues at Spanish GP

Despite being Red Bull’s main competitor this season, Aston Martin F1 faced significant challenges during the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso lacked the necessary speed on the soft tires during the early stages of the race to effectively challenge Mercedes and Ferrari. As a result, they finished a distant sixth and seventh.

Team principal Mike Krack acknowledged that their performance suffered due to their lack of competitiveness on the soft tires, which most drivers opted to start the race on. When asked about Aston Martin’s performance, Krack expressed a slight disappointment and admitted that they lacked the pace compared to their direct rivals.

He further stated, “We need to thoroughly understand the reasons behind this because there was quite a substantial gap at the beginning. Some cars simply overtook us effortlessly, and we must comprehend why that happened.”

During the race, no clear answers emerged to explain the problems they faced. Krack believes that even if his drivers had qualified closer to the front, they would have still encountered difficulties.

“If we had started second, it would have been challenging to keep Mercedes behind in the initial phase of the race, particularly the first 15 laps,” Krack explained. “There were instances where we were five to six, or even seven-tenths slower. We need to investigate and comprehend this.”

Although Aston Martin showed strength towards the end of the race on the hard tires, by then the damage had already been done. Krack doesn’t consider it a catastrophe, as both cars finished well and scored 14 points.

One theory suggests that Aston Martin might struggle more in traffic compared to when racing in clear air, an advantage Fernando Alonso has enjoyed on multiple occasions this season. While Krack acknowledges this possibility, he believes it is not an excuse for their subpar performance.

“It does play a role, especially on a circuit like this,” Krack admitted. “However, George Russell, for example, also had to deal with a lot of traffic and managed to navigate through it. Although we were in a better position once the traffic cleared, we need to understand why we found ourselves in that position in the first place, as we weren’t constantly in traffic during that stint.”

In addition to Aston Martin’s struggles, the article also discusses Ferrari’s consistency issues and Mercedes’ need for a car change earlier in the F1 season. Furthermore, it mentions Tsunoda’s criticism of the penalty imposed on Zhou for defending his position in the Spanish GP.

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