Both Aston Martin drivers had a difficult Japanese GP. Fernando Alonso finished just outside the points in 11th. Lance Stroll didn’t manage to improve his starting position and finished in 20th and last, a lap down. The two-time world champion rued the pace of his Aston Martin when speaking to the press post race.
“It was difficult, not boring, because I had the first half of the race Gasly within one second behind, in the second part Yuki. So I couldn’t make a mistake in one corner because they will overtake.
“So it was a very demanding race for us, but slow in general, we didn’t have the pace.”
Car development key
The Aston Martin AMR25 seemed to have some decent pace during the preparations for the Japanese GP, but during the race none of that materialised.
“I think we still need to check all the data. At the moment there is not enough pace. We seem to struggle to be in the Q3, we’ve never been so far, and then in the race to be in the top 10 with a normal race, on merit, at the moment we cannot achieve it. So yeah, it’s clear that we need to improve.
“In Bahrain we have a nice opportunity after the winter testing, we go back to the same place with some different ideas, maybe after the learnings of the three first races.
“I’m looking forward to keep developing the car.”
Lance Stroll echoed his team mate’s remark regarding car development, as there was little the Canadian driver could do.
“Not much worked out today,” he explained. “It seemed really slow and we were just stuck back there.”
“[You learn] little things, you know, set-ups and stuff that you can think about for Bahrain. Just the usual.
“Learning from eachother, I think, is the best.”
Suzuka not boring
The lack of action during the race immediately drew criticism from fans and pundits, but Fernando Alonso refused to go along with that sentiment.
“And about the circuit, yeah, it’s a Suzuka,” he said. ” I don’t know, but a race even in the past that we see too many overtakings here without the weather changing.
“So it seems like we repeat always on Thursday how great Suzuka is, how great Monaco is, the glamour, the spectacular weekend, then on Sunday we wake up and we say, ‘Monaco is boring, what we can do to the track, Suzuka is boring’.
“This is Formula 1, and Suzuka is great, first because Saturday is incredibly high adrenaline, so it’s good that it is [there].“
The tarmac was replaced ahead of this year’s Japanese GP, but the Aston Martin driver also acknowledged that the drivers themselves have a role in the discussion.
“Maybe [a] one stop was not maybe the fun race that we were hoping for, and in the past with multiple stops, maybe it is some tyre difference. But when we don’t have grip, we complain that there is no grip, and when we have too many stops, we complain the tyres don’t last.
“So instead of seeing the negative part of the weekend, I try to enjoy what we experienced this weekend, and it was another great Suzuka.”
