Aston Martin continues to work on solving the problems with Fernando Alonso’s seat, which forced the Spaniard to retire from the Canadian GP after just 23 laps at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The team’s trackside operations chief, Mike Krack, detailed the race against time to improve the two-time champion’s comfort at the Monaco GP.
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“We’ve been here since Tuesday morning with Fernando, so a lot of work has been done on Tuesday, with a lot of variations,” Krack told the press. “Now, driving is the real test [because] we see it statically; it’s not always the same thing. But I think we’ve taken a small step in the right direction.”
Krack also stated that Alonso showed moderate confidence in the adjustments made, but further changes might be necessary: “He was moderately confident that this would be an improvement, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we had to make another adjustment during the sessions to make him truly comfortable.”
The problem also affected Alonso during the sprint in Montreal, although it is not yet clear if the situation is related to the crash suffered by the driver in qualifying for the short race. After retiring, the Spaniard explained that the seat position was incorrect and that he became “increasingly uncomfortable” throughout the race.
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Krack emphasized that the solution does not involve just an isolated adjustment. “You can’t just change one thing, because then you need to change the pedals, check the regulatory height and all those things, the steering wheel distance… So it’s never a single thing; it’s a complete set of changes, and that makes things a bit complicated if you haven’t driven.”
The Monaco GP takes place between June 5th and 7th, with full LIVE coverage from F1MANIA.NET.
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