The reason for the unexpectedly early retirement of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll in the wet qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix seems to have been clarified. Contrary to Vettel’s initial assumption that “something might have broken”, it was more likely to have been a set-up error by the team.
In qualifying, reports team boss Mike Krack, both drivers initially went out, “but we realized that we didn’t have enough grip. Then we brought them into the pits and made a change for the second set of tires. And we had a similar one again Problem. We think it was tire pressure related.”
Apparently Aston Martin had deliberately set the tire pressure higher than in free practice, in which Vettel had finished third, in order to get the tires up to temperature faster. This is a very important criterion for performance in the rain. But even during Q1 the track dried faster than expected.
Team boss admits mistakes made by the pit crew
“We drove a lot in the morning and we didn’t get the tire pressure up very quickly. It just took too long,” explains Krack in an interview with “Motorsport-Total.com”. “So we had to do a lot of laps before the tire pressure came.”
“We thought that the conditions in the afternoon were very similar. But in qualifying we had 20 cars on the track that drove a lot. As a result, the track dried out much faster and became faster than we had expected,” admits the Luxembourger one.
In principle, that wouldn’t have been a big problem because the tire pressure changed quickly. But by the time the engineers realized what was going on, Q1 was already over: “We ran out of time,” Krack nods. “Had we gotten into Q2 we could have made more changes. But we were running out of time.”
Krack: Test ban is not helpful
In his opinion, Aston Martin fell victim to the test ban in Formula 1 at the home game of team owner Lawrence Stroll. In the past, the team would have had much more experience with such situations if they did happen. “We had a rain test in Barcelona. And then Monaco. But that’s something completely different than here,” sighs Krack.
“That was also one of the reasons why we decided to drive so much this morning, although that always means the risk of accident damage. But we still have little experience with these tires. It was much warmer in Monaco. So we wanted to let’s take the opportunity and learn as much as we can this morning.”
Aston Martin doesn’t seem to have succeeded: “Maybe it went a bit in the wrong direction,” Krack admits afterwards. “As I said: This morning it was incredibly difficult to get the tires up to temperature. And in the afternoon it was exactly the opposite.”
Vettel calmed down again after mini freak out
After his emotional pit radio immediately after his departure, Vettel had calmed down again when he spoke to the print journalists in the paddock. He was really angry, he admits, “but I’ve calmed down in the meantime. It’s no use if I’m still pissed.”
Particularly annoying: “Today was one of those days when you as a driver can really make a difference on a wet track. Unfortunately, we missed this opportunity. And now it’s the same game as always: we’re faster than the cars in front of us but may be stuck behind them.”
All the more important: “A good start.” Starting from 16th on the grid, Vettel would like to overtake some of his competitors on the first lap. But he also knows: “It won’t be the case that you do something completely surprising and are first after the first corner. But we have to be concentrated and wait for our chances,” he says.