Aston Martin Racing did not have the race that they were hoping for at the Portuguese Grand Prix. The team did everything in its power to score points but ended without any.
One strategy they adopted was switching Sebastian Vettel’s position with his teammate Lance Stroll.
Stroll was having difficulties trying to get past Antonio Giovinazzi and thus chose to give up his spot to Vettel.
As the race progressed towards its end, Vettel’s race engineer announced on the team radio that Stroll will be letting him ahead to take P13.
“Lance is letting you back past,” the engineer said.
Despite starting the race in P10, Vettel believed that his car was just not fast enough to fight his way into the top-10.
“Okay, well, we tried all race. Ultimately, we didn’t have enough pace to really put pressure on the car in front. The car’s been reasonable,” the German replied to his race engineer.
Vettel started the race on a set of used soft tyres which placed him on the backfoot right from the beginning. On the other hand, most of the cars around him started with medium tyres which allowed them to run a lot longer.
By the time the other drivers pitted and got fresh tyres, Vettel’s tyres were almost dead.
As a result, most drivers drove by the four-time world champion with minimal effort, putting him at a disadvantage.
Aston Martin’s only hope Lance Stroll was behind Vettel at the time in P14. The Canadian had fresher tyres and was expected to fight the Alfa Romeo just ahead. Thus Aston Martin called for a swap which never paid off.
Aston Martin had updated Stroll’s car which did not yield any results. P17 during qualifying and P14 during the race was not what the outfit were expecting.
Will the British team manage to improve its performance? Let us know in the comments below!
Read More: “We have a big split”: Vettel accepts Aston Martin handing only Stroll an upgrade package