In Barcelona, a month ago, Mercedes had a better pace than Aston Martin and Alonso had warned: “In Canada we will crush them”. He does not care. Some have pointed out that Mercedes has overtaken Aston Martin and come Canada and the green ones are ahead. And then, in Austria this weekend, Mercedes was missing, behind an Aston Martin that found itself overtaken by Ferrari and McLaren with Norris upgrades. Have Ferrari and McLaren overtaken Aston Martin? According to what can be obtained from the statements of Fernando Alonso after being 6th in the Austrian GP, the man from Oviedo made it clear that the decrease in speed of his car compared to Canada could be something specific due to the characteristics of the track. He tried to make sure of that “Ferrari took a step forward”, but he was not too pessimistic about what was seen in a race in which he also highlighted that the ‘Virtual Safety Car’ that appeared on lap 14 harmed him.
“You always hope for a little bit more, and especially with our streak this year of podiums, you always hope to be faster in the race… but the truth is that we didn’t go very far all weekend and in the race we kept our pace, a little lower than in the last races, and you also have to understand the reason”commented Fernando Alonso on ‘DAZN F1’.
“Last year, in Austria, Aston Martin was the 10th team I think and this year we are suffering againHaas were very fast in Austria last year and they start 6th and 7th and this year, so Sometimes some patterns are repeated every year and we need to understand why so as not to come next year and be slow again”, added Alonso, indicating that the reason for the decrease in performance of his car may be related to the type of track.
“We got a bit closer to Mercedes counting the sprint and today. We lost points to Ferrari because they took a step forward, but hey, it is what it is and every weekend there are ups and downs for everyone . This weekend was a bit low for us but we have a chance for revenge in the week.”he added, being optimistic ahead of next week’s British GP at Silverstone where Aston Martin is expected to get more new parts after the major upgrade package they announced in Canada.
Strategy and the virtual ‘safety car’
“They told me if I could be between 5 seconds behind Lando and 10″ with Carlos because I could also have a penalty, I don’t know, and you always try to be within those limits but not make mistakes to not lose position with the car from behind”, he commented at the end of the race, where he had to be aware of possible penalties from the cars in front of him. All this, before the ‘Safety Car’ was recalled entering lap 14 hurt him, as he was the only driver from the front who started on hard tires with the aim of taking advantage of his car’s good tire management to perform. a long stint that would allow him to gain place: “It was a race that I also had to watch on TV, because we started hard, trying to extend the first stop, and with the virtual safety car on lap 12 or 13, the advantage of persistence was somewhat neutralized, that there may be certain things to be seen”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
