'Our Main Issue Hasn’t Been The Drivers': Claims Aston Martin Performance Director
F1Tuesday, 07 November 2023 at 01:00
Aston Martin F1 performance director Tom McCullough recently talked about Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
The last three Grand Prix weekends before the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix have been tough for Aston Martin, especially after the strong start to the season the team had.
The British team collected 11 points in total throughout the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint weekend, United States Grand Prix Sprint weekend, and Mexico City Grand Prix weekend.
The problem was also that Aston Martin brought significant new upgrades to the United States, which ended up not working, and the team had to return to the previous concept.
Fernando Alonso, in particular, was unlucky as he had to retire both in Austin and Mexico City. However, he stayed positive after the race and said he hoped to finish the season with a better result.
That is exactly what the Spanish matador managed to do after starting the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos circuit from fourth place on the grid behind his teammate Lance Stroll in third.
The two-time World Champion brought home the eighth podium of the season for his team after a great battle with Sergio Perez on Red Bull, who finished just 0.053 seconds behind.
Stroll crossed the line in fifth place, and just with the race result on Sunday, the two drivers collected 25 points for their team. Tom McCullough recently told the media:
"I think what we’ve seen from both our drivers is that if we give them a good car, if we operationally execute well at a weekend, if they don’t have any unfortunate circumstances, they can get us good points."
McCullough highlighted the drivers have not been the issue for the team this season. As they both showed in Sao Paulo, they can deliver when they are given a decent enough car.
"Our main issue hasn’t been the drivers this year: our issues have been not always delivering a strong enough car and, sometimes, having a failure here, a strategy decision there. A Qualifying risk here and there that has backfired on us."
Aston Martin lost their place in the Constructors' Championship to McLaren. However, the team might be looking to still challenge for the fourth place with performances like this weekend. The current gap is 21 points.
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