Apr
Aston Martin expressed regret to their wasted “opportunity” at the Melbourne race weeks shortly after the Australian Grand Prix was over.
At the Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso gave Aston Martin its third straight Formula One podium, but a top Aston Martin official claims they had hoped to gain more advantage from the late resumption.
The race running order was reset to the past grid order after third-placed Alonso was eliminated by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the chaotic Lap 57 restart, meaning the Aston Martin racer had his third place reinstated and finished the last Safety Car lap in the same position, behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
After seeing both Alonso and colleague Lance Stroll disqualified in the Lap 57 restart, the squad welcomed the last red flag and restart. The squad would probably have failed to score if there had been no red flag.
Sporting Director Andy Stevenson stated in an interview with Aston Martin that the FIA eventually made the right decisions in Melbourne.
“There was a bit of uncertainty, but the FIA got it right,” said Stevenson.
“They’ve learned from things that have happened over the last few years, and they managed the Australian Grand Prix extremely well. They are the only ones with all the information and people need to remember that.
“None of the people who were disagreeing with the red flag in Australia had all information about the condition of the safety barriers, what was happening around the circuit, and where the safety vehicles and doctors were. No one did, except the FIA.”
Aston Martin aimed higher
The race’s second red flag, which was raised in response to Kevin Magnussen’s collision with the barrier, forced a restart on Lap 57. Prior to Alonso’s collision with Sainz, the team was eager to take advantage of the chance and advance.
According to Stevenson, the team had images of Sebastian Vettel’s spectacular late-race move from third to second at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“We saw the second red flag and standing start in Australia as an opportunity,” Stevenson added.
“We had the same thing with Sebastian Vettel a couple of years ago at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Some team members wanted the race stopped and not restarted but Seb was saying, ‘No, we’ve got to get this race restarted.’ He saw it as an opportunity and, in the end, we went from third to second.
“In Australia, we could see that both Fernando and Lance wanted a restart and you think to yourself, ‘OK, we could be on for an even better result here.’ Obviously, it didn’t quite work out that way, at least not immediately after the restart, but it was certainly exciting.”
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Aston Martin, F1, F1 2022, Formula 1, Grand Prix, Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel
