Lance Stroll does not think that the problems with Aston Martin’s AMR26 are solely due to the Honda engine. The power unit from the Japanese engine supplier has already been under scrutiny regularly this season, as the British team has been struggling with severe engine vibrations since the testing days. According to Stroll, however, the power unit is not the only stumbling block for Aston Martin in the pursuit of more reliability and competitiveness: ‘It is a combination of factors’.
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After three Grands Prix, Aston Martin is in last place in the constructors’ championship, one spot lower than newcomer Cadillac. The drivers – Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll – have had to end more races prematurely than they finished, mainly due to problems with the Honda engine. For instance, the power unit has caused ‘severe vibrations’ since the testing days, which even forced Alonso to retire from his race in China after 35 laps. “I had trouble feeling my hands and feet,” the driver said afterwards.
His teammate Lance Stroll, however, does not think that all the problems at Aston Martin are solely due to the power unit. “I think it’s a combination of the power unit and the car,” he explained the cause behind his team’s problems at Suzuka. “We are definitely losing a huge amount of time on the straights, but we are not exactly the fastest in the corners either. So it’s a combination of factors.”
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‘Plan for the coming months’
According to Stroll, Aston Martin now has a plan of action, but it remains to be seen how effective it will be. “I mean, progress in F1 is never fast enough,” Stroll said. “So at the moment there is no progress, because we have been in China and then went straight to Japan. We haven’t had much time yet to test things on the car in terms of development. But we have a plan for the coming months. What that yields in terms of lap time, time will tell.”
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