Aston Martin faced a challenging Sao Paulo Grand Prix last weekend, struggling with technical issues that left both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso with nearly unmanageable cars.
From Stroll’s pre-race spin to Alonso’s bumpy, painful run to 14th place, the rain-drenched event turned into an ordeal for the Silverstone-based team, ultimately traced to a mix of unfortunate factors that team boss Mike Krack shed light on post-race.
Stroll’s troubles began even before the race started. During the formation lap, his rear wheels suddenly locked, spinning him into the wall. Getting stuck in the gravel right after sealed the Canadian’s demise.
For Alonso, the day was no less difficult. Complaining of extreme bouncing, or “porpoising,” over the team radio, as well as of persistent rear-locking, Alonso was in so much discomfort that he almost threw in the towel.
Determined to finish, he pushed through, but it was a painful and uncharacteristically slow showing from the veteran driver.
Krack, discussing the team’s post-race findings, explained that a series of setbacks began after both drivers crashed during a rainy qualifying session on Sunday morning, damaging their Suzuka-specification floors, which Aston Martin had planned to use at Interlagos.
With no spares available, the team was forced to revert to an older floor design first introduced at the Hungarian GP. Under Sprint weekend rules, the team was allowed to make this change due to the part shortage without incurring a penalty, though they could not alter the AMR24’s mechanical setup.
“It was clear that both drivers were battling a car that was incredibly difficult to drive during Sunday's race,” said Krack. “Our post-weekend analysis has highlighted several factors that explain this.”
The technical challenge Aston Martin faced was a direct result of this unplanned change in floor design. The previous floor had a different aerodynamic profile, which wasn’t compatible with the mechanical setup that was locked in parc ferme.
As a result, the car’s aero balance and mechanical settings were mismatched, making it highly unstable and prone to excessive rear locking and bouncing – conditions that became particularly problematic on Interlagos’s notoriously bumpy track, already worsened by adverse weather conditions.
“Following both cars’ accidents in qualifying, we had to replace a lot of components with a different specification due to availabilities at the end of a triple-header,” Krack added.
“This is allowed by the Sprint Event regulations, and you declare your shortages and replacement options to the FIA before the event.”
The regulations, however, also restricted the team’s ability to adjust suspension or other setup parameters around the new floor, effectively leaving the cars in a compromised state that exacerbated their instability.
“You aren’t allowed to change the mechanical set-up of the cars,” said Krack, “This meant we could neither check nor adjust the set-up of the cars, which negatively affected aerodynamic behaviour and performance.”
Combined with the already challenging conditions, Aston Martin’s struggles grew more severe.
“Add in treacherous wet conditions, along with an incredibly bumpy track, and you begin to understand that both drivers had the odds stacked against them,” he added.
“Both cars were highly susceptible to wheel-locking, and we can see in the data that this is what caused the issues for both Lance and Fernando."
Aston Martin has had a challenging season with floor development, having initially introduced an upgrade in Austin that didn’t provide the expected performance boost.
They reverted to the Suzuka floor for Mexico, hoping it would yield better results, but the crashes in Brazil forced them back to an even older configuration.
Now, Aston Martin is considering a return to the Budapest-spec floor for upcoming races in Las Vegas and Qatar, where the car’s high-speed performance will be tested once again.
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