After the disappointing start of the Formula 1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Aston Martin is in the mood for gloom. Because the bolide of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, which was canceled due to corona and was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg, hardly seems to be competitive. Insiders even describe the AMR22 as a disaster.
A flattering twelfth place (Stroll) and 17th place (Hülkenberg) were the final results after the first Formula 1 race. Aston Martin actually wanted to be at the front of the field. But the bolide not only suffered from the so-called porpoising, in which the car hops across the track on long straights, but also reacted uncontrollably, depending on the situation, with understeering and oversteering, according to information from “Sport1”.
Experts are said to have been horrified by the wide sidepods after the presentation, and during the test drives Vettel also became aware of what to expect. After the tests in Barcelona, he said, among other things, that the AMR22 steers “like a truck” in curves.
Formula 1 expert Ralf Schumacher revealed what he heard from insiders in the “AvD Motor & Sport Magazin” on “Sport1”. “The car,” he heard, “is a disaster,” said Schumacher, who also added meaningfully: “It has to be able to do everything you don’t need.”
In addition, the 46-year-old learned of inconsistencies in the cooperation at Aston Martin. “In addition, apparently the team owner [Lawrence Stroll, d. Red.] meanwhile also sits in the meetings and expresses how things have to go,” revealed Schumacher. “If that’s the case, then it really gets very complicated.”
Due to the structural problems in the team, long-time team boss Otmar Szafnauer is said to have given up a few months ago.
“The team has lost the thread,” explained Schumacher. “You wanted to achieve too much too quickly – and that just doesn’t work in Formula 1. You can’t just take a lot of people and a lot of money, put them in a pot, stir them briefly and then something good comes out.”