Very bad speed! What was the problem?

“GP2 Engine, GP2 Engine!” The radio message cannot be forgotten. In the 2015 Japanese all-terrain GP, ​​Fernando Alonso did not leave a good connecting rod on the Honda engine in his McLaren during the Formula 1 race. Almost nine years later, the events almost seem to be repeating themselves. “It’s unbelievable how bad our pace is in the series, it’s like we’re in a different division,” shouted Lance Stroll over the radio on lap 47 in a shrill voice. The car is different. The engine is different. But his companion is the driver who once slammed the proud Japanese Honda with his radio messages: Fernando Alonso.

Lance Stroll came close to scoring points at the 2024 Japan Grand Prix. The Canadian finished the race just outside the points in 12th place, while team-mate Fernando Alonso finished the Grand Prix in 6th place.

Significant differences in performance within teams

Compared to his colleague, Stroll lagged far behind. According to the team, the big difference in performance between the two drivers can be explained by the fact that Aston Martin decided to use two different rear wings. Stroll’s wing was larger and more powerful than his counterpart. This allowed Stroll to overtake many of his competitors in the esses, which require high power.

However, compared to others, this wing has high air resistance, which means that Stroll lost a few kilometers per hour directly. In the 47th lap of the race he expressed his anger about the lack of top speed. After the race, however, he reflected: “We had a bad wing on my car.”

Mike Krack: Tires make a difference in performance

This was also confirmed by team boss Mike Krack: “Yes, I think he (Lance, editor) talked about it. We made a qualifying choice. It was a small difference, but not a big one.” Instead, Krack identified another reason for the lack of straight-line speed: “Within the field there is very little variation in straight-line performance,” said Krack.

But at different times during the race there were also different tire conditions. “Then accelerating out of the corner is different.” In his opinion, this is where Stroll’s idea came from. “If you look at the stats you see all the cars are very similar. But the tire conditions are different at different points in the race – there are 10, 12 or 15 lap differences in the tires and then the acceleration. It looks completely different.”

Updates give Aston Martin points

Lance Stroll started in 16th place and was able to fight his way up to 13th place midway through the race. He then got stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda after his second pit stop.

The Silverstone team “was very ambitious and tried everything to get to the point,” Stroll noted. Therefore, the Greens were the only team that decided to risk the three-stop strategy with Stroll and therefore switch to the soft tire towards the end of the race. The Canadian crossed the finish line in 12th place.

At the same time, Fernando Alonso finished the race in 6th place and was able to score points for his team. “The updates we made seem to have had a positive effect and we were able to finish the race ahead of our nearest rival Mercedes and take eight points,” said team boss Mike Krack. Stroll was the only driver to initially test the updates mentioned on Friday, and from Saturday Alonso was also able to enjoy them.

Alonso was already rude in the last race. You can find out what Christian Danner has to say about it here: