Lance Stroll is having a nightmare weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Aston Martin brought updates to Suzuka and Fernando Alonso maximised it from FP3 onwards, qualifying P5 for Sunday’s race. The Canadian driver had the new package since FP1.
While his Q1 elimination was probably a shock to many, the signs had been there since FP1. He was 1.4s slower than Alonso in first practice, finishing P15. In FP3, the gap was 1.2s as he could only manage 18th.
Come qualifying, the gap had reduced to 0.770s in Q1. However, it was not enough. Stroll was out in P16; he missed making it through by 0.061s after failing to improve on his second lap.
It’s a repeat of last year’s Japanese Grand Prix — Alonso made it into Q3, while Stroll was out in the first segment of the qualifying hour.
The Canadian driver did not hold back in his assessment post-qualifying, stating he and the car did not have the required pace on Saturday.
“Everything felt fine. Just very slow today. No pace in the car and no pace in myself in my car.
“The car looks quick and Fernando was quick, so I don’t know. I don’t have more answers.”
The 2020 Turkish Grand Prix polesitter says investigations need to take place into why it was so bad.
“We have to look at the data, see if tyres, everything was working properly in the right window.
“It’s just one of those days, I don’t know, I don’t have answers yet, we have to look at everything.”
In the team’s post-qualifying press release, Mike Krack says they will be taking a very close look at why there was such a differential between their drivers.
“Our target is always to get both cars into Q3. We did not achieve that, and so we need to have a closer look at Lance’s AMR24 as the gap between both cars was substantial.”
