Photo credit: Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team
Aston Martin had to enter damage limitation mode early on in the US Grand Prix weekend to salvage any positives from their trip to Texas. The Silverstone-based outfit arrived in Austin packing a major update package aimed at arresting their slide down the order and with luck gain back some ground on the teams they previously in the season had been comfortably outpacing.
Alas, the upgrade, which team principal Mike Krack admitted was a risky move to begin with, failed to deliver. A dismal Grand Prix qualifying on Friday and equally poor Sprint sessions on Saturday meant the team opted to revert both AMR23s to their previous specification. This meant Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso would commence the race on Sunday from the pit lane.
Alonso was having a decent race considering his starting position until he picked up some floor damage, forcing him to retire with seven laps remaining. This left the team’s hopes pinned on Stroll, who hadn’t scored points since the Belgian Grand Prix in July. The Canadian driver reminded his critics of his previous form – climbing up the order to finish 9th on the road before the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc promoted him to P7 in the final classification.
Team boss Mike Krack was quick for praise the Canadian for delivering 6 points in a weekend where it seemed initially that the team was destined to leave with none:
“I’m really happy for Lance. Really, really happy. And I think the team as well, I think we all wished him to have a result. You know, to come from the pit lane and finish just behind Gasly, I think one lap more and we would have been able to pass.”
With plenty of overtakes along the way also and great pace, Krack was more than pleased with Stroll’s performance.
“All the stints, all the tyres he was really on it…yeah, I’m really happy about it.”
Given the time it’s been since Stroll last put some decent points on the board, Krack was quizzed about what it would take to see this sort of performance on a more consistent basis:
“We need to provide him with the tools to do it because you see if we do, the performance is there.”
Stroll’s double world champion teammate, Fernando Alonso was running ahead of Stroll on the road and the team looked set for an unlikely double points finish before his retirement. Despite his frustration at his own result, he joined his team boss in praising him, commenting:
“Happy for him, because he deserved to have better weekends.”
