The Debrief by Aramco: United States GP
Lance recovers from the pitlane to the points at the 2023 United States Grand Prix.
Despite both Lance and Fernando starting in the pitlane, we came away from Circuit of The Americas with more points.
Lance finished Sunday's race in P9 while Fernando made his way into the top 10 but had to retire with floor damage. Lance was later promoted to P7 after two drivers were disqualified for technical infringements.
Brake problems put Lance on the back foot on Friday as he was limited to just five laps in Free Practice One. He qualified 19th for Sunday's Grand Prix and Fernando qualified 17th.
On Saturday, a brake issue ended Lance's Sprint race early while Fernando finished 13th.
Those issues also hampered our efforts to optimise our newly updated AMR23. As a result, we made set-up changes with the cars in parc fermé, which forced Lance and Fernando to start Sunday's Grand Prix from the pitlane.
Both drivers made steady starts to the race: Lance on new Hard tyres and Fernando on used Mediums. They soon began to make their way through the field and both were in the top 10 by Lap 20.
Soon after, Lance pitted for Mediums and was followed by Fernando – both drivers pulling off overtakes in the second stint of the race.
The pair pitted with around 25 laps to go and made quick work of climbing back into the top 10.
However, Fernando had to retire a few laps before the chequered flag with floor damage. Lance, on the other hand, scored six points in P7 and brought our tally up to 234 points.
Read what Fernando, Lance and Team Principal Mike Krack said on Sunday.
Sunday
#18 Lance Stroll | Grand Prix
"Finishing ninth after starting from last in the pitlane is a positive result after a tough couple of days here at COTA.
"It's good to be back in the points after some difficult races.
"The set-up changes we made to optimise the performance have definitely put us in the right direction; we were much more competitive today.
"I had good grip in the corners, especially once we fitted the Medium compound, and I was able to make a few good overtakes going into Turn 12.
"We'll be working hard to take this momentum into Mexico next week."
#14 Fernando Alonso | Grand Prix
"It was a great comeback race for us with a lot more pace in the AMR23.
"We were aiming to score some points having started from the pitlane, but, unfortunately, we had to retire with some damage.
"It's a shame as during the race today we looked quite competitive.
"We collected a lot of useful data and comparisons on the two cars today that will be crucial heading into the remaining races."
Mike Krack, Team Principal
"Scoring two points with Lance represents a good recovery when you consider everything that has happened this weekend, including starting from the pitlane with both cars.
"Lance managed his race well, looking after the tyres and delivering really competitive times, as well as making decisive overtakes.
"Fernando looked destined to score points too, until he picked up floor damage, which forced him to retire with just seven laps to go.
"We gathered valuable data on the latest updates today. That data will pay dividends for the upcoming races as we continue to tune the set-up of the AMR23.
"I want to thank everyone at the AMRTC in Silverstone and here in Austin for their efforts over recent weeks to get the new parts on the car. We look forward to getting back on track next weekend in Mexico."
Saturday
#14 Fernando Alonso | Sprint Shootout & Sprint
"We were uncompetitive today in the Sprint and we haven't been able to optimise our package all weekend.
"We need to keep looking at what we can learn from this weekend and try to score some points tomorrow.
"The whole Campus has worked flat out to bring the upgrade here to Austin, but the biggest problem so far this weekend was the challenging FP1 session where we had such limited time and laps to test the upgraded car out."
#18 Lance Stroll | Sprint Shootout & Sprint
"It was a good start to the race; I made up a couple of places during the opening laps and I was happy with my overtake on Daniel [Ricciardo].
"After that my tyres were beginning to fall away and I began losing the feeling with the brakes, so we had to retire and investigate.
"We'll regroup tonight – with the benefit of having had some more running – and prepare to go again tomorrow."
Mike Krack, Team Principal
"We did not have the pace to compete for points today, but we continue to learn about our updated AMR23 – which is not easy during a Sprint weekend.
"We saw both drivers enjoy some good battles out there today, especially on Lap One, but managing tyre life was the story of the Sprint for all teams.
"There are certainly some learnings that will help us going forward and we will take that knowledge into tomorrow's Grand Prix."
Friday
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice & Qualifying
"Not an ideal Qualifying for us with both cars out in Q1.
"There was a lot of traffic today and we completed our out lap with around one second left to the chequered flag.
"We started too close to the cars in front. I don't think this helped. It was very close between lots of cars with just a few tenths being the difference.
"We had a difficult FP1 with some issues and we weren't able to optimise the new package we brought to Austin. We are in parc fermé now so we will see what we can do tomorrow with hopefully a cleaner day."
#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice & Qualifying
"Going into Qualifying with only five laps in FP1 was always going to be a challenge, but I actually felt like I got to grips with the AMR23 pretty quickly.
"The problem today was that we just didn't have the pace.
"We'd hoped for a bit more, so it's a disappointing result, but this is a good track to race at and overtaking is possible, so there will be opportunities on Sunday."
Mike Krack, Team Principal
"It was a very close Qualifying session and we did not optimise things today.
"I don't think our grid positions reflect our true potential.
"During free practice, we suffered with overheating front brakes on both cars and resolving that issue cost us valuable preparation time.
"When it came to Qualifying, we were on the backfoot, and with such a tight grid it cost us. The final moments of the session were not ideal with queuing in the pitlane. It was then all quite rushed, with the clock ticking down, and that impacted the preparation of their final laps.
"We can do better and we have to."
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