Daily News 19

Tag: Zandvoort Circuit

  • Aston Martin Warns of Tougher Formula 1 Races Ahead

    Aston Martin Warns of Tougher Formula 1 Races Ahead

    Mike Krack says Fernando Alonso’s ninth-place finish at the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix was helped by Zandvoort’s track characteristics, while Aston Martin continues to unlock the full potential of its upgraded AMR26.

    After qualifying 18th, Alonso used an opportunistic one-stop strategy to claim an unexpected ninth place, finishing ahead of a frustrated Pierre Gasly.

    Zandvoort suited Aston Martin’s cornering performance

    Most drivers made two pit stops, but Aston Martin needed to adopt an out-of-sync strategy to benefit from the AMR26’s speed through the corners. The Honda-powered car recovered the time it lost on the straights by performing strongly in the circuit’s slower sections.

    Asked whether Aston Martin’s race pace was stronger than its qualifying pace, the team’s chief trackside officer agreed, while warning that less favourable circuits such as Monza and Baku were next on the calendar. Both venues feature some of Formula 1’s longest straights.

    “Since Budapest we know that we’re a bit stronger in the race,” Krack said. “I think Fernando said today our result will depend more or less on how long the straights are.

    “So these were now two races where the straights were a bit on the short side. So we will have tougher races to come, but I think that this is part of the game. You have races where you’re strong, and you have races where you’re less strong. So it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes.”

    Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer of Aston Martin F1 Team

    Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

    Aston Martin still learning how to use its upgrades

    Aston Martin recorded the second-lowest straight-line speed during qualifying at Zandvoort, reaching 309.5km/h. That was significantly slower than Alpine’s 331.7km/h and only marginally faster than Cadillac’s 309.4km/h.

    The deficit came despite the arrival of Honda’s long-awaited power unit upgrade, which was expected to deliver a substantial performance improvement after the car suffered severe problems earlier in the season. However, the team has made visible progress with the chassis, as demonstrated again in the Netherlands.

    “We get to know this package more and more,” Krack said. “With the large package that we introduced in Budapest, it will take some sessions to learn how to deal with it and to learn how to set it up. And the same goes actually also for the introduction of the power unit now.

    “We need to learn how to use it, we need to learn how to optimise it, and I think it’s going to take us a couple of events, but it was a good step forward.

    Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll both made positive comments over the team radio during the weekend. Krack said those remarks reflected Aston Martin’s growing understanding of its latest package, while acknowledging that the team could not extract its maximum performance in every session.

    “It goes along with what I said in terms of trying to understand the package. If you have changes at this large scale, with the intensity of the sessions, it’s always difficult to get the maximum out of it all the time. And the more sessions we get, the more we will get it under control.

    “But there will always be sessions where you will have a bit more difficulties, some others where it will be easier, and we had quite a good configuration this weekend.”

  • Esteban Ocon Defends Controversial Move on Alex Albon, Bemoans F1 Rule

    Esteban Ocon Defends Controversial Move on Alex Albon, Bemoans F1 Rule

    Esteban Ocon defended his controversial overtake on Alexander Albon during the Dutch Grand Prix and criticised the Formula 1 rule that sent him back behind the Williams driver for the second race start.

    Max Verstappen crashed out and Gabriel Bortoleto spun 360 degrees on the opening lap at a slightly damp Zandvoort circuit. As the yellow-flag zone ended, Ocon accelerated faster than Albon and moved into 13th place shortly after crossing the start-finish line. Albon objected to the move over the team radio.

    “I’m sorry, but what Esteban did is crazy,” Albon ranted on the radio. “He’s overtaking me in the middle of the crash.”

    Although Albon was not asked about the incident during his post-race media session, Ocon was questioned about the overtake and insisted that he had not breached the rules.

    “I overtook Alex, yeah, but I had the right, because it was green,”

    the Haas driver said. However, the grid for the second start was determined by the classification at the end of the first lap, making Ocon’s overtake irrelevant to the restart order.

    “What was a big shame is that you have to take all these risks, you know?” Ocon added. “You’re playing with either getting a penalty or not. I was not having a penalty, but it was very tight, because I just passed him when it was green. And then they put you back at the race start.

    “It’s been like that forever, but… Really, if that was 20 metres earlier, then I was having the place. But we still raced, like, for one-and-a-half sector. The red flag only came after Turn 5, you know? So, we passed sector one, and we were getting into sector two. So, I should have started in front of Alex – because that changed my race.”

    Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team — Photo by Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

    Ocon spent the early stages of the race behind Albon before making an early pit stop on lap 16 in an attempt to find clear air. He had returned to 14th when he retired on lap 53 with a power unit problem.

    “After that, obviously, there’s a lot of things that maybe we could have done differently, with strategy, etc,”

    the Frenchman admitted.

    “Fernando [Alonso] did a really, really good strategy, I don’t think we could have done the same one without degradation. But there are things that we can look into to do a better job.”

    Ocon said Formula 1 should be able to use a more current race classification when forming the grid for a restart, rather than relying on the order recorded at the end of the previous lap.

    “We are not going to believe that in Formula 1 we don’t have timing loops every 20 metres, you know? It’s a very old-school rule, really,”

    he continued.

    “I said it on the radio, let’s not make Alex go in front again at the restart. Because that should not be the case. And for some reason I felt it, that they were going to put him in front again. They still take the line, which is like two kilometres back. It shouldn’t be like that, it should be the last moment.”