Fernando Alonso admitted that he still has concerns that Aston Martin haven't seen the last of the intermittent recurring DRS issues that have plagued the first two days of their race weekend in Azerbaijan.
Problems with the rear wing DRS on both cars during the showdown qualifying meant that Alonso started today's sprint race from eighth, with team mate Lance Stroll lining up just behind in ninth.
“I think the weekend in general has been a little bit worse than the previous three races,” Alonso acknowledged. “We are underperforming a little bit, this morning being the best example: P8 and P9 is not good enough."
However it proved a much better sprint race, with Alonso easily dispatching Alex Albon and then also getting ahead of Lewis Hamilton to finish in sixth, with Stroll crossing the line in eighth to pick up the final point on offer today.
As a whole, today's performance suggested that the team had finally fixed the DRS issue for the sprint. "We had some DRS issues during the shootout, but fortunately it seemed to be working for the Sprint," reported Stroll.
"Fortunately, the DRS issues we have encountered throughout the event did not affect us during the sprint," confirmed Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack.
But Alonso warned that this might not be the case in the longer Grand Prix on Sunday. “That’s the topic this weekend in our team,” he admitted.
"We cannot be 100 per cent sure, we’ve had problems every session so I don’t think that the system is still bullet-proof into tomorrow’s race.
"It’s the way it is," he shrugged. "But it did work [in the sprint]. In the race I pressed it two times and it did open, so I hope everything is fixed.
“One time I wasn’t looking in the mirrors so I’m not sure," he pointed out. "But I’m sure the team is analysing all the data and if we have some tweaks to do we have another chance before tomorrow’s race.
"Maybe it’s not the key factor tomorrow even if it doesn’t work," he suggested. "Even with the DRS it seems very difficult to overtake when you are following cars.
After today's sprint, Aston Martin's lead over Mercedes in the standings has been trimmed back to just six points. But Alonso is in a much more secure in third place in the drivers championship thanks to his run of podium finishes.
“I think it’s a little bit of damage limitation, to be honest, for us this weekend,” Alonso conceded. “We are not super fast.
"We were a little bit concerned [coming] into the race," he noted. "But I have to say I’m more optimistic now after the sprint race that the car will be fast tomorrow."
“[Today] I was at the pace of the Ferrari and Mercedes. Tomorrow I start P6 instead of P8, so we still have a chance to finish top five.
"That will be ideal if we can finish sixth in the sprint race and fifth on Sunday on a difficult weekend. That will be very good news.
"Our main competitors in the constructor, which is Mercedes at the moment, they just finished a few points in front of us, and tomorrow George is starting 11th [so] we still have an opportunity to outscore them.
"I believe we have a chance to finish even higher in tomorrow’s race, as there is always a chance of a safety car or red flag here to mix things up.”
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