Aston Martin CEO Otston Szafnauer has softened his stance on technical changes introduced for the 2021 F1 season.
Last Friday, Szafnauer called on the FIA to revise the aerodynamic regulations that came into force this year to reduce the disadvantage Aston Martin has suffered.
After “a few meetings with the FIA”, however, Szafnauer stated that the team’s concerns had been at least partially allayed.
“I think we’re pretty happy at this point that all the right steps were followed,” said Szafnauer. “We’re still in the discussion, we’re just trying to figure out what all the steps were to make sure it was done right and just. So that’s the reason for the discussion.”
Szafnauer added that the team “just wants to have a good understanding of the whole process and be happy that the process is really fair”.
During the race weekend, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff suggested that the aerodynamic changes to the rear of the cars should reduce the world champion’s advantage. He said Aston Martin, whose car has a similar “low-rake” design, was “collateral damage.”
In the first race of the season, the entire field was on average 1.6 seconds slower than last year. But Aston Martin fared worse, losing 2.2 seconds from last year. In Imola they performed above average: While the field was 0.23 seconds slower, Aston Martin only fell 0.07 seconds behind.
Aston Martin increased his score at Imola, Lance Stroll finished eighth, although Sebastian Vettel had to drop out of the race shortly before the end. Szafnauer said the team is “still working hard” to reduce its performance deficit.
“It looks like we’ll have to look very carefully in one lap,” he said. “It looks like the race pace is a little better.
“We had dry conditions here, wet conditions, people with different tires, so it’s hard to know. But I think Lance did a brilliant job coming home from his start in seventh, a tough race. Unfortunately, Seb had the transmission problem and the penalty, so that didn’t really help. But we will go through all the data and work hard to pull it back. “
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F1 season 2021
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