Aston Martin has been unable to address its drivers’ concerns that Spa will be the team’s worst race in what has so far been a difficult season.
The team’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack admits the characteristics of the circuit will not suit the AMR26, while Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara acknowledges that “a lot” of speed will be lost on the straights.
Aston Martin expect difficult Belgian Grand Prix
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In a holding pattern ahead of the introduction of the B-spec Aston Martin at the next race in Hungary, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso will head out onto the Spa-Francorchamps circuit well aware that the team’s lack of upgrades has put them firmly on the back foot.
It is, however, a deliberate decision from team principal Adrian Newey ahead of a major upgrade in Budapest.
But before the drivers get to experience the new car, and hopefully take a step forward, they will have to survive the Belgian Grand Prix.
Stroll reckons it will be Aston Martin’s worst weekend of the entire season.
“We know that is going to be really difficult, and probably the worst circuit of the year for us, so yeah,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media after the British Grand Prix. “It should be really difficult for us there, and hopefully Budapest has a big uplift in performance.”
Stroll’s comment was put to Krack when he spoke with media ahead of the Belgian weekend.
“Yes, I think we know the sensitivity of this circuit for the various parameters of the car,” said the Luxembourger, “and I think I have to agree with Lance.
“It’s not only the lap length that we will suffer from, but also the character. So I think we can expect that.”
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The drivers are also waiting for Honda to upgrade its power unit, after Honda was awarded two development tokens under the ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities] system. That is expected at Zandvoort.
Alonso is worried about energy deployment and running out of battery power. That would force him to harvest battery power in Sector 2, which runs from Les Combes through Pouhon.
“If you deploy at Spa from Turn 1 to 5, finito for the rest of the lap,” predicted the Spaniard. “If you deploy on those two straights, which is the optimal deployment, then there is a one-minute Sector 2 with no deployment at all.”
Honda’s Orihara concedes it will be an issue.
“This track is quite torquey comparing it to Silverstone,” he said. “We have a long straight or long double division. Then it’s quite torquey in terms of MGUK deployment distribution on the long straight.
“So we have prepared some data, but we need to check what is the best strategy.”
He added: “If we deployed at the beginning of straight, we’d lose a lot of car speed at end of the straight. So we need to consider where we should deploy.”
Aston Martin has scored a solitary point this season with Alonso tenth at the Monaco Grand Prix.
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