Aston Martin’s Drivers Both Score Points at Season Opening Grand Prix
After a short winter break, ongoing car, chassis & engine development, much talking, guessing & speculation, a lot of sensational news taking place off track, car launches & testing, it was off to the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir for the start of the 2024 Formula 1 Championship season at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Thankfully, there were no pre-season accidents, as there were last year, and the race weekend built up positively for the Aston Martin Aramco (no Cognizant this season) Formula One Team’s drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. In the first Free Practice session Fernando was 5th fastest overall, but the fastest on the medium compound tyres. The four drivers in front of him were on the softer (faster) tyres. Lance was 14th. Then in the second Free Practice session, both drivers improved, Fernando ended up 3rd fastest and Lance was a respectable 8th. Both drivers reported that the AMR24 race car felt good and the refinements of setup were working well.
In the final Free Practice session the following day, Fernando improved even more, up to 2nd and Lance managed 10th. What was noticeable was that Fernando’s AMR24 had been faster than Max Vertappen’s Red Bull in all three sessions – it was auguring well. But the true potential of the cars and capabilities of the drivers would only be revealed in Qualifying. In Q1, the drivers both performed very well and were solidly in the top 10 – Lance 2nd ahead of Fernando, 5th. In Q2, the drivers went out on their first runs and Lance managed to get his car into 2nd place at one stage, before tumbling to 10th after all the drivers had completed their initial fast laps. Fernando meanwhile managed to settle for 5th, despite him having a big lock up. On their 2nd runs, there was no improvement for Fernando and Lance was pushed down the order and out of the top 10 by surprisingly impressive laps from Hulkenberg in the Haas and Tsunoda in the RB Honda (renamed from Alpha Tauri last year). In the final qualifying session, the Team decided to run Fernando only once, taking advantage of a lull in proceedings, and on empty track and a new set of soft tyres, Fernando placed the car in provisional 3rd place. However, all the remaining cars went out again and with some posting faster times he ended up 6th fastest overall – one place lower than where he started last year’s race, but still decent.
With the order set for the race (Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Aston Martin) there was much excitement and expectation as to who would do well and what the finishing order would be. Off the start, both AMs got off quickly, but at the first corner Lance was hit in the rear by Hulkenberg (whom he’d managed to overtake), was spun round and dropped to last. He was further hampered by having to come into the pits to get checked over and take on fresh tyres, but this put his strategy out of order for the rest of the race. Fernando meanwhile, despite his good start, wasn’t able to make up any places. By lap 7 he was caught and passed by the McLarens of Norris and Piastri and then by Hamilton on lap 10. There was a glimmer of hope that when the majority of the top running cars had come into the pits for fresh tyres (allowing Fernando to get up to 2nd) that AM were on a different, longer stint strategy. They were not. Fernando pitted for fresh tyres on lap 16 and came out 10th, just ahead of Lance who’d managed to get up to 11th. On those new tyres, on the next lap, Fernando passed Zhou for 9th.
On lap 29, at the halfway stage of the race, Lance had to come into the pits again for another (final) set of fresh tyres and he came out 18th, with Fernando still in 9th. A few laps later there was another round of pit stops allowing the AMs to move up the order, so that by lap 38 Fernando was 7th and Lance was into the points - 10th. However, with the McLarens and Hamilton on newer, fresher tyres they passed Fernando on lap 40 and he eventually came into the pits on lap 42 for his final set of fresh tyres, losing 2 places as result. However, with the advantage of the newer tyres he was able to move up the order and was up to 10th by lap 45. Four laps later, Lance let Fernando by and that is how they finished – 10th for Lance and 9th for Fernando.
Reflecting on the race, it was reassuring that the Aston Martin drivers finished in the top 10 and both scored points and for me, my ‘driver of the race’ was Lance Stroll, who made a decent recovery to go from last to 10th. However, it was ominous that Verstappen’s Red Bull was 1 minute and 15 seconds ahead of the AMs and 22 seconds of the 2nd placed car, his team-mate, Sergio Perez, at the finish – are they setting the pace for the rest of the season. Also concerning, is that the McLarens, the team just ahead of AM, were 20 seconds ahead.
The official communication on the Aston Martin F1 website states that ‘the race provided a first opportunity to understand the AMR24's race pace relative to the field. The team will now analyse the data gathered from the race and build on its learnings for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in a week's time’.
Let’s hope so – another report in a week’s time.