Stroll grabs P9, Alonso retires early – Aston Martin sees small gains but knows bigger steps are needed to fight consistently in midfield.
Aston Martin left the Chinese Grand Prix with two points in hand, but there’s no hiding the challenges still facing the team.
Lance Stroll finished ninth after three drivers ahead were disqualified post-race. While the result adds to the team’s tally, the Canadian driver wasn’t pleased with the car’s performance.
Starting on hard tyres, Stroll had hoped to gain an edge late in the race with fresher mediums and a shorter strategy. But in the end, that plan didn’t pay off.
“I thought the race would swing our way after the first stint,” Stroll said. “But I had a lot of graining on the medium tyres, and since everyone ended up doing just one stop, that was the end of it. We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to keep scoring points.”
His teammate, Fernando Alonso, didn’t even make it past the opening laps. A brake failure forced the two-time world champion to retire early.
“The brakes were overheating right from the start,” Alonso explained. “By lap three or four, I hit the brakes into Turn 1 and the pedal just went straight to the floor. It was scary.”
Luckily, the incident happened in a slower corner. “If that had happened at Turn 14, it could’ve caused a massive crash and taken out several cars. We were lucky. Now we need to find out exactly what went wrong before Japan.”
Despite the setback, Alonso remains optimistic: “We were slightly better than in Australia in terms of race pace. We’re learning, and the goal is to keep improving the car step by step.”
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Aston Martin Grind for Progress Despite Scrappy China Points
Aston Martin Grind for Progress Despite Scrappy China Points
