The Debrief by Aramco: Austrian GP
Fernando and Lance continue Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One® Team's point-scoring run at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Fernando and Lance finished in the top 10 at Spielberg after an eventful Austrian Grand Prix.
Saturday's Sprint saw both drivers take points and finish in the top five to bring home nine points, and the pair added an extra 12 to the tally on Sunday – in our ninth-straight points-scoring weekend of 2023.
Fernando began the race on Hard tyres and after a solid start he pitted during the Virtual Safety Car for a set of Medium tyres – and was swiftly followed by Lance into the pits for a slick double-stack stop. Fernando rounded out the race on another set of Mediums, and finished fifth having started seventh on the grid.
Lance started sixth on a new set of Medium tyres, pitting for Hards during the early Virtual Safety Car on Lap 15. He worked his way back up into the top 10 and pitted twice more: on Lap 36 for another set of Hards, and on Lap 54 for a set of Mediums. Despite a challenging day, Lance recovered back into ninth.
Including the result from the Sprint, we bolstered our tally by 21 points in Austria. Read what Fernando, Lance and Team Principal Mike Krack had to say on Saturday in Spielberg.
Sunday
"I think it was more or less the maximum we could achieve today. We were very close to Lando [Norris] in terms of pace and also the Mercedes. We tried something different by starting on Hards but then the VSC meant our advantage of going longer in the first stint wasn’t possible anymore." Fernando says the strategy team were quick on their feet after the Virtual Safety Car as he points out our closest challengers on Sunday.
"It was a tough day today, but we still come away from the weekend with some decent points for the team. We slightly mistimed our stop under the VSC this afternoon and lost several places in the pits, and that decision dictated the strategy for the rest of our race. In hindsight, we probably should have pitted during the first lap of the VSC rather than the second, so that’s something we’ll need to review and learn from." Lance says that the timing of the stop under the Virtual Safety Car wasn't ideal, and that might be something to analyse going forward.
"Today was not our strongest performance, but we still managed to score nine important points. The podium fight was out of reach, but there was the opportunity to finish higher up with both drivers. We lost some track position early on when we chose to pit and stack both cars just as the VSC was ending and that proved quite costly for both drivers." Mike says the double-stack during the VSC wasn't ideal and perhaps there was a better result within reach.
"This circuit didn’t suit our car last year so maybe there is something for us to look into. Overall, we've scored a number of points over the Sprint weekend and we’ve made some ground on second position in the Constructors' Championship. It's a long season and we have our home race at Silverstone next week. It’s an incredible track so we will give it our all." Fernando acknowledges that, despite the Red Bull Ring perhaps not suiting the AMR23 as well as other circuits, we took away 21 points from the weekend.
"I had a few good battles on track while fighting back through the field; taking [Yuki] Tsunoda at Turn Three was especially fun. Our focus now shifts to Silverstone. It's one of the best tracks on the calendar, so I'm looking forward to getting back out there in a few days' time." Lance reflects on some brilliant moves on his way back to P9, and looks ahead to our home race at Silverstone.
"Lance kept his head down to recover into the points, making some important overtaking moves when it mattered. With Fernando, our race today was with Mercedes and, our pace, combined with some rapid pitstops, allowed us to come out ahead in that battle. Our attention now turns to our home race in Silverstone next week where we look forward to putting on a strong performance in front of the passionate British fans." Mike praises the quick work of the pit crew and the team as a whole after a solid weekend in Spielberg. Next up, it's our home race: the 2023 British Grand Prix.
Saturday
#18 | Lance Stroll | Sprint Shootout & Sprint
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Sprint Shootout & Sprint
"Today is about Dilano van 't Hoff, the young Dutch driver who we lost in an accident at Spa this morning. Dilano was a member of the motorsport family, and my thoughts are very much with him, his loved ones, and the MP Motorsport team. I feel very strongly that change needs to be made to make Eau Rouge safer; we’ve lost two young talents in junior motorsport over the last few years and that needs to be spoken about." Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix was overshadowed by the news that Dilano van 't Hoff passed away at Belgian circuit Spa-Francorchamps. Lance paid tribute to the young driver.
"It was very sad to hear the news from Spa and my thoughts are with Dilano's loved ones. The visibility is very poor in certain circuits at high-speed in wet conditions and we can’t afford for something like this to happen again." Fernando joined Lance in paying tribute to Dilano van 't Hoff.
"We had pretty challenging weather for the Sprint events today, but both Lance and Fernando drove faultlessly, and the team managed the conditions well to score nine important points – gaining eight on Mercedes and three on Ferrari. The rain showers made for dramatic racing, especially when the track started to dry out, and we had to weigh up the tricky decision of whether to switch to slick tyres." Tom praised both drivers for placing in the top five and gaining points on Saturday.
"We had a strong race today in Austria and I was pleased with my opening lap. The focus was on managing our tyres through the drying track conditions; the team made a good call with the strategy and judged that well. Fourth and fifth is a strong result and we’ll race hard again tomorrow." Lance said that the choice not to pit for slick tyres in drying conditions paid off as he looked ahead to Sunday's Grand Prix, where more points are on offer.
"I am happy with the overall points from today for Aston Martin. In the end we scored three more than Ferrari and eight over Mercedes so it’s a good Saturday Sprint for the team. It was a fun but fair fight with Lance, and it was only the last lap where we were very close into Turn Eight. We considered going onto the slicks, but we had seven laps to the end, and we felt like we had enough margin to those behind. The fact that Nico [Hulkenberg] stopped one second in front of me and finished one second behind showed it was very close, but it was the correct decision." AMF1 Team was just one of two teams to score points with both drivers in the Sprint. Fernando added that the drying track presented an extra dilemma but the result confirmed that staying on Intermediates was the correct decision.
"Hopefully we can score more tomorrow. The weather should be better, but we start seventh so we’ll see what we can manage and aim for a top-five finish." Fernando set out his aims clearly for Sunday's Grand Prix. He and Lance start in the top 10 for tomorrow's race.
"We held our nerve and judged that we could see out the race on Intermediates. It was a decision we got just right as Nico was catching us on dry tyres on the final lap. It was a Sprint race full of drama, plenty of overtakes, and fair racing – a real treat for the fans." Tom praised the strategy team for making the right call on a dramatic Saturday.
Friday
#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice & Qualifying
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice & Qualifying
"I was happy with how the AMR23 was feeling today and pleased with my final lap; I think we got everything we could have out of that Qualifying session." Lance says he left nothing on the table on his way to P6 on the grid for Sunday's race.
"I feel good after that Qualifying session. It's always intense qualifying here where the lap times are so close. If you look at the timing board throughout the three sessions, there are two or three tenths between a number of cars." With such a short lap, margins are close around the Red Bull Ring. Fernando placed in the top eight throughout the day.
"Track limits were tight, and I had a couple of laps deleted as I was trying to really commit to those fast corners, but it was the same for everyone and something we're used to around this circuit." Lance was one of a number of drivers to exceed track limits and have times deleted in Qualifying; AMF1 Team were one of just two teams to get both cars into Q3.
"We had one lap time deleted in Q2, which forced us to put an extra set of tyres on the car to progress. It then meant we only had one chance on new tyres in Q3, which wasn't ideal." Fernando explains why he had to take an extra set of tyres to make it through to Q3, in which he used his one lap on new tyres to take P7 for Sunday's race.
"It looks like we could be in for some slightly challenging weather conditions for the Sprint events tomorrow, so it's good to have a solid starting position on the board as we look ahead to Sunday's race."The risk of rain is significantly higher tomorrow with the Sprint and Sprint Shootout to come, as Lance points out.
"Sixth and seventh are strong starting positions for us. I think it'll be interesting and exciting with the weather as there is a chance of rain tomorrow and maybe dry conditions on Sunday. The car feels good, so I'm optimistic heading into the rest of the weekend." Both cars start in the top 10 for the race on Sunday but, as Fernando says, there is plenty of running still to come with eyes on the skies for Saturday's action.
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