Aston Martin Battles Rear Instability and Porpoising at Challenging Brazilian Grand Prix
Dakar, GT, and British GT News
Aston Martin faced a tough outing at the recent Brazilian Grand Prix, with both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso struggling with significant rear instability and excessive porpoising issues throughout the race weekend.
The Silverstone-based team’s troubles began on the formation lap, as Stroll spun into the wall after his rear wheels unexpectedly locked up, leaving him beached in the gravel. Alonso, meanwhile, battled persistent rear locking and bouncing problems that caused him back pain by the end of the race, where he finished 14th.
Aston Martin has since delved into the data to uncover the root causes of their woes. The team has determined that the issues stemmed from a combination of factors, primarily related to changes made to the cars following crashes in the wet qualifying session.
Both Stroll and Alonso had hit the barriers during the tricky qualifying conditions, damaging the Suzuka-specification floors that Aston Martin had planned to use. With no spare parts available, the team had to revert to an older floor design initially introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“Both cars were highly susceptible to wheel locking, and we can see in the data that this is what caused the issues for both Lance and Fernando,” explained team principal Mike Krack.
The rule changes for sprint race weekends allowed Aston Martin to make this specification change, but the team was unable to adjust the mechanical setup accordingly, as parc ferme regulations prohibit such changes between qualifying and the race.
As a result, the aerodynamic characteristics and mechanical settings of the cars were not properly aligned, leading to the highly nervous and unstable rear-end behavior that both drivers experienced. Add in the challenging weather conditions and the incredibly bumpy Interlagos circuit, and the odds were stacked against Aston Martin.
Aston Martin has been exploring different floor options in recent races, with mixed results. The team reverted to the Suzuka-specification floor from Mexico, but may now look to commit to the Budapest version for the upcoming high-speed races in Las Vegas and Qatar, where they hope to find more stability and performance.
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