Fernando Alonso will start only in P18 at the Spanish Grand Prix of Formula 1, while Lance Stroll did not even participate in the qualifying session, after facing a water pressure problem in his car. For Aston Martin, the qualifying session in Madrid exposed the car’s limitations on a high-speed and difficult-to-overtake circuit.
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Alonso assessed that 18th place probably represented the maximum the team could achieve in Saturday’s session. The Spaniard also highlighted the difficulty of the track and warned that the lack of overtaking opportunities could make recovery during the race even more complicated.
“The circuit is challenging and it is a high-adrenaline lap at high speed. I think it was probably the maximum we could achieve today in the qualifying session and we will have to see what we can do in the race,” said Alonso.
He hopes the team can take advantage of any opportunity during the race to gain some positions: “It seems that overtaking can be difficult, so we will have to maximize everything to gain positions,” he added.
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Stroll had a different situation. The Canadian was unable to complete the qualifying session due to a water pressure problem right at the start of the session, although he already knew he would start at the back of the grid because of the components replaced in the power unit overnight.
“We knew we would start at the back of the grid anyway with the components we replaced overnight, but I was looking forward to getting a few more laps here,” explained Stroll. The Canadian acknowledged that Aston Martin still has work ahead, but believes the race could offer some opportunities.
“It is clear that we still have a lot of work to do. There may be some opportunities tomorrow, so we will run our own race and see how it unfolds,” concluded the Canadian driver.
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