Aston Martin had a rather complicated Formula 1 Spanish GP in Madrid, with Fernando Alonso finishing 17th and Lance Stroll retiring after facing car problems. The damage suffered by both drivers prevented the team from showing the pace it expected to present.
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Spanish Alonso had to make a stop to replace the front wing after being hit by Carlos Sainz from Williams. The two-time F1 champion stated that the team needed a chaotic race to try to change their situation, but ended up with few opportunities to fight for positions.
“We needed a chaotic race today to try to change our situation, and in the end, we didn’t have much to fight for,” said Alonso. The experienced driver also highlighted that the team tried different alternatives to keep learning from the updated package, and considered the penalty applied by the FIA to Sainz for the incident to be correct.
On the other hand, Stroll had his race compromised in the early laps when he suffered damage to the car. The situation worsened later with brake problems, which made the pedal very long, leading the Canadian to retire from the race.
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“I started having some brake problems and the pedal was getting very long, so I started locking the wheels. I tried to spin the car in the escape area (after going off track), but I didn’t have enough power, and unfortunately, that was the end of the race,” added Stroll.
Adrian Newey, renowned designer and current team principal, described Sunday as disappointing for Aston Martin. According to him, the retirements and damage suffered by both cars prevented a real assessment of the package’s performance, although Alonso managed to provide important data about the updated car: “Fernando had a consistent race in front of the Spanish fans, which helped us gather useful data on this new car to analyze,” he added.
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