Aston Martin explained why they have been losing time to their rivals in the final sector of the lap in Monaco, after Fernando Alonso narrowly missed pole position yesterday.
Alonso was 0.204 seconds quicker than Max Verstappen over the first two sectors in qualifying yesterday. But the Red Bull driver was 0.288s quicker than him through the final sector, which includes seven corners, and denied Alonso what would have been his first pole position since 2012.Aston Martin’s performance director Tom McCullough said the team have been losing tyre performance in the final sector of the lap. “Around here it’s quite hard to get the tyres working for the first timed lap,” he told media including RaceFans.
“As you saw a lot of people do different run plans throughout qualifying. We were able to get the tyres on our car working well often during the weekend, fastest in sector one and sector two. Obviously you take more out of the tyres by doing that.
“You get to sector three, it’s a bit harder. So we were trying to play that balance here.”
The team has been unable to get out of the slow corners at the end of the lap as well as some of their rivals, McCullough added.
“Also some of the traction and grip out of the last two corners wasn’t particularly strong and consistent for us. That’s something we tried to work on during the weekend. But ultimately if you look at the GPS overlay to Max at the end it’s a little bit in all the last three or four corners. So it’s not stand-out.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Aston Martin arrived in Monaco expecting the track would suit their car as it lacks the long acceleration zones where Red Bull’s superior efficiency gives them an advantage. McCullough said that has been borne out by the team’s showing so far this weekend.
“The efficiency on this track means it’s just all about your cornering performance,” he said. “It’s really hard until you come here as no one’s actually run max downforce before until you put the big rear wing on the car. And everyone’s got updates, so you don’t really know.
“But thankfully our car performed well, to expectation. We put all the high downforce rear wing on, the diffuser, the brake ducts, everything worked well. So then you’re happy, the car was strong. The margins are small.
“There’s a lot of people very, very close in times. So we did think it was a good chance, but I’m sure a lot of people did too.”
While Alonso will start from the front row, Lance Stroll only took 14th on the grid in his Aston Martin. McCullough said his qualifying session began to go awry when he touched the barrier at Sainte Devote.
“In free practice three he had a nice clean lap and was nice and strong. Quali one was really nice and strong. Quali two, into turn one on the first lap with a bit of a compromised out-lap, he had a snap on the exit of turn one and that sort of put him a bit on the back foot. He didn’t quite go in as hard as Sergio [Perez] did, but he nearly did, so then you sort of wind it back a bit.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“He ended up at the end of that run missing the weigh bridge, having to get dragged back and then only having one lap.”
Stroll’s final lap was spoiled when he collected debris, said McCullough. “Going into the penultimate corner, turn 18, he was on for easily going through and he just went in a bit deep to that corner.
“When we actually analysed it, you see the Norris incident, out of turn 12 a huge part of Norris’s front wing broke the forward strakes of the floor, broke the chin. So from an aero side, that last sector he had a lot of damage on this car.”
Aston Martin have repaired Stroll’s car ahead of the race. “We’ve actually had to change the floor overnight,” said McCullough.
“So it’s one of those ones, very small margins, before you know it one or two tenths has knocked you out and then the result looks bad. But he was actually quite comfortable with the car up until then.”
Bringing the F1 news from the source
RaceFans strives to bring its readers news directly from the key players in Formula 1. We are able to do this thanks in part to the generous backing of our RaceFans Supporters.
By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the equivalent in other currencies) you can help cover the costs involved in producing original journalism: Travelling, writing, creating, hosting, contacting and developing.
We have been proudly supported by our readers for over 10 years. If you enjoy our independent coverage, please consider becoming a RaceFans Supporter today. As a bonus, all our Supporters can also browse the site ad-free. Sign up or find out more via the links below:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2023 Monaco Grand Prix
- Mercedes ready to “grind” their way to competitiveness after major W14 update
- Verstappen surpasses Vettel as winner of most races for Red Bull
- How the first team to fit intermediate tyres in Monaco got the call right
- Verstappen’s Monaco pole run was the completion of his 2021 Jeddah lap – Horner
- Haas thrilled as upgrade performance exceeds wind tunnel predictions
Jere (@jerejj)
28th May 2023, 11:44
La Rascasse ultimately proved decisive.
SadF1fan
28th May 2023, 13:07
Peter Windsor showed how different the line from Max is through Rascasse in comparison to Perez and Alonso.
And how much time he gains through Rascasse and the corner and straight after it.
Sheer skill from Max through S3. Which he had to do to compensate for his conservative S1 where his tyres weren’t up to optimal temperature, as he said in post-qualifying interviews.