Aston Martin CEO Otmar Szafnauer has admitted that in the run-up to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the team has no idea why it suffered from a number of brake issues.
On the way to the starting grid, the rear brakes of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel fired and melted before the race.
Aston Martin managed to fix Stroll’s brakes so he could make the start, while Vettel was forced to start from the pit lane as the repairs weren’t completed on time.
The delay in Vettel’s repairs meant his tires weren’t fitted before the five minutes were up and he was given a 10-second stop-go penalty.
When asked what caused the braking problems before the race, Szafnauer said: “I was just in the debriefing and we are still not doing it. We’ll put all the data on the grid for the laps. What happened was we overheated the rear brakes and the grid laps weren’t at the normal pace we normally drive so we didn’t get the airflow.
“But we are aware of it, and even with that, the settings are such that they should not have caught fire. We overheated it, but we don’t know why or how. “
On the subject of matching items
Stroll finished eighth while Vettel was eliminated on the penultimate lap after transmission problems plagued his afternoon.
Szafnauer announced that every time Vettel crossed the start-finish straight, he suffered from a problem with the gear synchronization.
“There are some indicators,” said Szafnauer. “It seems like every time we pass the start-finish line, the gearbox is out of sync. So there are some pointers, but we still don’t know why. “
On the subject of matching items
Aston Martin leaves Imola and is sixth in the constructors’ championship with just five points.
Szafnauer is confident that the Silverstone-based team can achieve significant increases in performance in the coming races.
“We’re still working hard on it,” added Szafnauer. “It looks like we have to look very carefully in one lap. It looks like the race pace was a bit better even though we’ve had drying conditions here, wet conditions and people with different tires so it’s hard to know. But I think Lance did a brilliant job coming home in seventh from where he started in a tough race.
“Unfortunately, Seb had the transmission problem and the penalty too, so it didn’t really help. But we will go through all of the data and work hard to withdraw it. ”
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