F1 is only a few weeks away from welcoming the new version of the racing weekend with a sprint race at the British Grand Prix. The teams came to a consensus with the ideology of F1. But apparently not all reasons were covered during the talks.
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And now, tensions seem to be building amid the threats from Aston Martin and several other F1 teams. The British in particular want to break off one of the training sessions to spare their claws for the sprint race.
Why? Well, Aston Martins Sporting Director Andy Stevenson estimated that their clutches only lasted up to 300 km. Therefore, with the addition of 100km of sprint racing, reliability becomes a huge risk for the remainder of the weekend.
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What did Aston Martin say?
As reported by Auto Motor Und Sport, Andy has disclosed that their clutches need to be serviced beyond 300 km. He went on to claim that the team would have built a very reliable clutch during the winter break if they knew sprint races would be a part of 2021.
“These couplings were built for a different purpose. They need new washing machines and maintenance after 300 kilometers. If we had known what to expect before the season, we would have built different clutches, ”he said.
Formula 1 F1 – French Grand Prix – Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France – June 18, 2021 Aston Martins Sebastian Vettel during practice REUTERS / Eric Gaillard
“If we had to drive the clutch for a whole weekend without a refresher, we can’t guarantee that it will last. If the FIA doesn’t give in, we may have to skip a training session. That cannot be in the spirit of the inventor. “
Aston Martin requested Mercedes for their fairly new clutch model, which can travel up to 700 km without a lot of maintenance. However, the Brackley team declined the request, citing a lack of units to cover both teams.
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Will more F1 teams endorse Aston Martin’s opinion?
Aside from Aston Martin, two other teams have already raised the drawbacks of hosting sprint races – McLaren and Alpine.
And that’s not surprising when you consider that their Grand Prix points could be compromised by risking overuse of the clutches. It would certainly be foolish to prefer the sprint race with a maximum of 3 points to the main race with up to 25 points.
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Therefore, the likelihood that other teams will join forces with Aston Martin is very high. If that happens, the only way out for the FIA is to allow drivers to change the clutch in the middle of the race weekend, which has not been the case in Formula 1 for all these years.
Formula 1 F1 – Styria Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Styria, Austria – June 25, 2021 Alpine Fernando Alonso in action during training REUTERS / Leonhard Foeger
So far, the FIA has yet to confirm the teams’ request. Therefore, the teams will discuss this weekend in Austria with the FIA without any reaction from them. So will they find a compromise from the talks?
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View history: What are sprint races and where are they held?
The post Aston Martin threatens to end the F1 practice session at Silverstone in the middle of the sprint race first appeared on monter-une-startup.
