In the run-up to the F1 Grand Prix of Spain, the Aston Martin team was not satisfied with qualifying. Despite the updates brought by the team, the temperature at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona hampered the British team and failed to achieve success.
Sebastian Vettel and teammate Lance Stroll got no further than Q1 with P16 and P18 respectively
Sebastian Vettel: “We seemed stronger in free practice and I honestly thought we would do better in qualifying. However, this afternoon I struggled with the balance: I had a lot more oversteer and couldn’t really bring speed into the corners without losing the rear. Still, the team has done a fantastic job bringing two all-new cars to this race – that was a huge effort. The reward for all that effort is not yet fully apparent, but I’m sure it will come. Tomorrow is a new day and we are going to push hard. It doesn’t help if you start further back, but I think we need to be able to overtake some ground in the race.”
Lance Stroll: “It’s a disappointing result today. I struggled with the balance of the car all weekend and if you’re not comfortable you can’t do fast laps. However, we know it’s still early days with this package, so we need to make sure we understand the reasons for today and see how we can improve the setup in the future. Now it’s about focusing on tomorrow. The conditions will probably be very hot and the tires will need to be managed, so maybe we can make up the ground with a good strategy. We shall see.”
Mike Krack, Team Principal: “Obviously we are disappointed with today’s qualifying performance as we made it through to Q3 in both of our last two Grands Prix with one of our cars, but with today’s high temperatures we had oversteer issues and traction. We will work hard over the next few hours to give ourselves the best possible chance of scoring points in tomorrow’s race.”