Aston Martin F1 Team Is Braced for a 'Fragile Situation' in Shanghai: 'We Are at Square One'
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Aston F1 Bracing to See What Happens in ChinaAlex Bierens de Haan - Getty ImagesThe Aston Martin Formula 1 team is braced for another tough weekend in China as it tries to nurse its surviving Honda batteries. As team boss Adrian Newey noted in Australia, Aston had only two serviceable units left from a stock of four after failures in testing, with the other two suffering from “communication” issues that left them unusable. The team struggled through the Melbourne weekend; Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll did at least start the race, although the latter didn’t drive at all on Saturday. Both were called in for 10-plus minute pit stops in the garage while their cars were checked over, and both were retired for good not long after they resumed.
As of Thursday, Honda is being coy on whether the two rogue batteries have been repaired and returned to the pool of usable items. If, as is widely suspected, they haven’t, then once again only the units currently in the two cars are available in Shanghai.
When asked by Road & Track about the impact of the battery shortage on the Shanghai weekend, Stroll made clear his thoughts."I think it's very fragile, the situation with the batteries,” he said. “But probably someone knows the answer better than me.”
Stroll confirmed that mileage will be restricted once again. Shanghai is a sprint event, which means that Aston will go straight into sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon after a single FP1 session. This will be followed by the sprint and main qualifying on Saturday, and the Grand Prix itself on Sunday. “We're battling a lot of issues we have—even just doing laps is difficult,” said the Canadian. "So it's not a normal approach to a weekend where you show up and you think about competing, and fighting for points, or whatever the car is capable of. Right now, we're just fighting to get the car out on track, and have a reliable package where we can participate.”
GREG BAKER - Getty ImagesAlonso, meanwhile, admitted that there won’t be any sign of improvement form, and that simply getting some laps would be an achievement. “The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne,” said the Spaniard. “I think it’s going to be another difficult weekend—trying to understand as much as possible on the car and eventually limit the laps in a couple of the sessions because we are short on parts, and try to get something positive out of the weekend.”
The two-times world champion hopes that he will at least be able to complete some track mileage with the AMR26, which the team still has very little proper knowledge of. “We are at square one, so we really need the laps,” he said. “We really need to be able to practice, and to find the window on the car and the chassis side. That will obviously be very important for the weekend. And I will be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal free practice, more or less normal quali, accumulating laps—and probably attempting the full race on Sunday, if we are allowed.”
Alex Bierens de Haan - Getty ImagesFor the time being, performance is an afterthought, as Alonso acknowledged. “I hope by a couple of Grands Prix we can have a normal weekend—well, at least in terms of doing laps and completing the sessions. Then to be competitive, I think that will take more time, to be honest. Because once we fix the reliability, then we will be behind in terms of power and things. So there are two steps, let’s say, and hopefully the first step will come soon.”
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