In the round-up: Lance Stroll says Aston Martin’s rivals have out-developed them since the season began and the team needs to hit back over the final 10 races of 2023.
In brief
Aston Martin need “another step” – Stroll
Aston Martin started the season strongly and were still second in the championship six races in. However they have slipped back to third since then and were out-scored by rivals Ferrari and McLaren in each of the last two rounds.
Stroll said they “came out of the box really strong” but admitted “it’s been a bit more challenging the last few events.”
Team principal Mike Krack recently admitted they had realised they hadn’t got the best out of their car in recent races and said they have begun to put that right. But Stroll believes they also need to bring more upgrades for their car.
“A lot of the teams caught up so it’s much tighter now,” he said. “We really just have to keep pushing and try and make another step in the second half of the season to get back to that really competitive car that we had at the beginning of the year.”
Aston Martin “made some little mods to the car which definitely helped,” Stroll added, “but I think we still really have to keep pushing because we’re still not as quick as we want to be.”
De Vries back in the cockpit
Nyck de Vries was back in action over the weekend following his ousting from AlphaTauri last month. He participated in a public demonstration event at the TT Assen circuit to promote a casino, driving a Formula Renault 3.5 car of the type he raced in 2015. Fellow Dutch racer Richard Verschoor was among the others who joined in.
Tough NASCAR race for Button and Kobayashi
Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi took part in Yestrday’s NASCAR race on the Indianapolis road course, making their third and first starts respectively. Both were involved in separate collisions with Ricky Stenhouse Jnr, who made contact with Kobayashi at turn one and Button at turn 10.
Button finished a lapped 28th, Kobayashi was two laps down in 33rd among the 39-car field. Michael McDowell took victory.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Marko: Verstappen könnte in einem Haas auf Pole fahren (Motorsport-Total – German)
‘Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen’s performance in the rain-hit qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps, where he was quickest by eight-tenths of a second, shows he could put an AlphaTauri or Haas on pole position.’
‘Santino’s saga was a bit different. He managed to skate through the multi-car accident with minor damage. On his first pit stop on lap 15, a miscommunication resulted in his running over the front tire hose which incurred a stop and go penalty which meant a second pit stop under green. He went a lap down and without another caution period to aid in getting a lap back, he remained a lap down for the race. He finished 23rd.’
Race Report – Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (Penske)
Newgarden: ‘We came with a new package because we have struggled lately on the Indy road course, and we wanted to do everything we could to finish the season strong. It just seemed to be one thing after another for the Hitachi Chevy team, from the 10-minute practice penalty for me being late to weigh-in, to the engine change last night to the first lap incident. Clearly not the finish we needed for the championship but this team knows how to fight.’
Race Notes (Ed Carpenter Racing)
Hunter-Reay: ‘I got up into 16th and was making lap time from there. The odd bit was we got passed by one car after that and lost four spots. I didn’t see anyone else all day, no one else passed me, and we finished 20th. I’ll have to go back and look at pit cycles.’
Malukas moves up eleven spots to finish 16th (Dale Coyne Racing)
‘It was a really good race for us from a strategy perspective and with the car that we had. I think we managed to gain a lot of positions on drivers that had a better car than us so that was encouraging.’
Extended highlights: Indianapolis Grand Prix (IndyCar via YouTube)
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to F1George, Dan_The_Mclaren_Fan and Kirill!
On this day in motorsport
- 40 years ago today Teo Fabi scored his breakthrough CART IndyCar victory in the Pocono 500, having shown considerable potential in his Forsythe-run March. He led home Al Unser Jnr, whose father continued to lead the championship despite failing to finish in the top three for the first time that year
