Aston Martin ambassador and Formula 1 representative Pedro de la Rosa admitted that an ongoing downshift issue has contributed to both drivers being rendered an “unpredictable car” for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The Silverstone-based squad endured another tough start to a Grand Prix weekend in the principality, with Fernando Alonso nudging the barriers during free practice.
Alonso all but foresaw the incident coming the day before, when speaking to media, including Motorsport Week, he explained locking due to “random downshifts”.
Teammate Lance Stroll has complained of a similar issue, and on a track of intricacies and fine margins, the AMR26 is potentially under severe threat of helping put both men in the wall should the anomaly continue.
Speaking after FP2, de la Rosa confirmed the problem was indeed unresolved, commenting that it is leaving the car “not predictable enough for the drivers to be able to attack the corners, the braking areas.”
“We saw Fernando losing the rear end going into the chicane,” he continued. “It’s not only downshifting, it’s just a bit more complex than pure downshift, it’s just about how much the torque can be consistent, how much thrust you have on the rear end, how strong the front end is and which gear you will downshift into the apex. So there’s a lot of things that we’re working on.
“But, the reality is that the conditions were difficult and we found a very, very unpredictable car today, although we have done our best in trying to give them the most predictable of the cars, the downshifts.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday, free practise is for improving and understanding the biggest issues, but definitely we need to make a step forward tomorrow.”
Aston will be hopeful of remedying the issue to at least some extent before qualifying, with Alonso and Stroll likely left to be on the tail end of the field without significant solutions.
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