Looking back at this start of the season, Aston Martin seems to have almost reversed its characteristics compared to last year, proving to be more convincing in qualifying than in the race. A change in trend that seems linked to particular technical reasons, such as the ability to prepare the tires well, but also to an improved DRS effect.
However, the British team’s weekend in Miami was quite mixed, including the work on the flying lap. In Friday’s qualifying, those for the sprint, both single-seaters managed to reach SQ3, but in the first two heats all the teams were forced by the regulations to focus on the medium compound, more robust and flexible than the soft. In the last heat, where the teams were forced to take advantage of the softer compound, the AMR23s finished only ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Lando Norris, who made several errors during the lap.
Things went even worse on Saturday during the “traditional” qualifying, in fact held entirely on the soft. Fernando Alonso did not go beyond fifteenth place, while Lance Stroll finished just on the edge of the top ten, eleventh, thanks to the overheating problems of the softer compound which put several teams in crisis, including Aston Martin.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Erik Junius
“In qualifying we struggled with the tires, which overheated. I think every rider has had more or less problems. We tried everything, with new, used and run-in tyres. But we never managed to exploit them well, not finding that tenth or two that we needed,” said Mike Krack, Aston Martin Team Principal.
In fact, therefore, both drivers were forced to make a comeback, especially Alonso who, starting from fifteenth position, found a long mountain to climb in front of him. Precisely for this reason, the engineers of the British team decided to diversify the strategy, starting Lance Stroll with the medium, compound chosen by the majority of the grid, while Alonso started with the hard, a compound which would have allowed, in terms of degradation pure, to complete the race without problems given the low level of wear encountered.
It is clear, therefore, that Aston Martin’s intention was to extend as much as possible and hope for some favorable situation. However, the Spaniard’s race proved to be full of problems and unknowns, more than his ninth place finish might suggest.
In an attempt to defend himself during a duel with Pierre Gasly in the early stages of the race, in fact, the driver ended up blocking the left front tire, causing strong vibrations which also created some concern in the pits: “The plan was to go long. But then obviously… we don’t know if and when a Safety Car will arrive. We were waiting for an SC to come out, but then we came back when the Virtual Safety Car came out, because the vibrations were very, very, very, very intense. We were afraid of breaking something on the car!”, explained Krack referring to Alonso’s problems.
The problem suffered by Alonso during the Miami GP
Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro
Even more interesting is the fact that those vibrations probably actually created secondary problems, starting with the engineers seeing involuntary brake activations. After about ten laps, in fact, the Spaniard was told not to touch the brake in the DRS areas, which surprised Alonso himself, who clearly denied it. In fact, even from the telemetry we can see how the brake trace indicated activations at full acceleration, even though clearly the Aston Martin rider would not have needed to push the pedal.
This also became evident during the thirteenth lap, when Alonso reported problems with energy deployment, which the team linked precisely to this strange phenomenon whose origin he did not understand. After a few laps in which the engineers tried to examine the data, they then realized that the pedal had a slight movement, so the pilot was asked to apply a light pressure of about 2/3 bar for the last two hundred meters on the straight, so that it remained stationary.
After stopping to change to the medium tyres, the problems were reduced and the Spaniard was able to push again, also taking advantage of the introduction of the Safety Car at the right moment: “I think today we were lucky with a Safety Car which helped the car a lot. our race. Starting on the hard tires, perhaps we thought we would stop a little later, but the safety car entered that lap and we took advantage of it,” said the Asturian.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524 and Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
“Then the Safety Car compacted the group, and we were on the medium tyres, while the others were on the hard tyres. So we had a little advantage. So all in all we were lucky with the strategy and with the Safety Car. In the race we went a little better than in qualifying, but we still need to improve the pace in the race.”
Alonso was also the author of a good fight with Esteban Ocon, with the two then sharing ninth and tenth position at the finish line, then also exchanging compliments to each other at the end of the race for an intense but exciting challenge. “With Esteban he fought hard. As always, he fights, but with respect. I really enjoyed fighting him today. It’s the first point for Alpine, and I’m happy for them too. But I think Esteban drove very well to win this point. So congratulations to them!”, the Spaniard then added.
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