Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer hopes the French GP result will silence those who suspect his team has found ways to circumvent tire usage guidelines imposed by Pirelli.
After Baku, where Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen suffered near-identical high-speed left-rear blowouts, Pirelli suggested teams had found clever ways to run lower tire pressures than those prescribed by Formula 1’s tire manufacturer.
A stricter set of guidelines was introduced as a result, but Aston Martin boss Szafnauer insists Aston Martin has done nothing wrong at all.
“Both of our drivers drove long stints with Paul Ricard,” said Szafnauer. “Hopefully that will silence those who have argued that we are somehow circumventing the regulations in dealing with these tyres. We have never broken the rules and will not do so has proven this again.
“We stuck to the new technical guideline, but our tires still performed well. Maybe we should pay more attention to some of our competitors who have lost pace and find out what exactly they did,” added Szafnauer.
Following the Stroll and Verstappen punctures in Baku, Pirelli reportedly required teams to use slightly higher tire pressures in France.
Meanwhile, Szafnauer hurled more than a veiled reproach at Ferrari, who were suddenly uncompetitive after pole positions in Monaco and Baku at France’s Paul Ricard Circuit.
“If we find the reason, I expect that we will make some kind of change,” said Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who finished 16th on Sunday. “First we need to understand what happened.”
Leclerc had started from pole in the last two races and finished fourth in Baku.
After two consecutive poles, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was not a factor at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France.
Clive RoseGetty Images
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz added: “It’s all about the very narrow operating window of the tyres. We need to scale that up because we suffer from a lot more grit than our opponents.”
However, Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto downplayed the impact of the newly introduced higher tire pressures.
“The problems we have are in front and the new pressure was in the back,” said Binotto. “We also had problems here two years ago. But we need to understand and improve, and maybe there are ways to defuse the situation a little. But to really solve the problem, we need new parts.”
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