Team instructions for Aston Martin in Hungary too
While McLaren's team instructions were the order of the day at the end of the race, no one was concentrating on Aston Martin which, like its British counterpart, asked one of its drivers to give back the position, albeit with a different result.
A Hungarian Grand Prix under team orders. Although the atmosphere at McLaren doesn’t seem to be very affected by their strategic decision, the situation could be different at Aston Martin, between its two drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.
Instructions not followed by the Canadiens.
While the two McLarens were exchanging positions at the top of the race, after Norris overtook his Australian teammate during the pit stops, still offering a one-two finish to the Woking team, the Aston Martin team, on the other hand, did not succeed, as the Canadian driver did not follow his team’s instructions.
Several times, Andrew Vizard, his race engineer, ordered his driver to give up the tenth position to his Spanish teammate: « Now. You have to let Fernando pass before the line, he is four seconds behind you, there is no pressure behind. Lance, I suggest you slow down, let Fernando pass. He is four seconds behind » notably pronounced the British engineer.
Words that unfortunately were not heard by his driver who did not respond to his instructions, forcing Vizard to end with a: “Okay, it’s the flag. It’s the flag”, putting an end to any possibility of exchanging positions. However, after the race, the two drivers did not comment on this and instead highlighted a missed strategy on the part of the team.
« I think the strategy wasn’t right today. Obviously, now after the race, it’s easy to say. I think we stopped on the 7th lap and then from that moment on, 63 laps with a medium, a hard, it was a bit optimistic. So, not a great pace and the strategy didn’t help. » analyzed the Spanish driver, disappointed to miss out on points by so little.
On his side, Stroll mentioned a difficult race even if the poleman of the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix returns from Hungary with one point, his second consecutive points finish after his seventh place in Silverstone.
« I don’t think we optimized the strategy and we weren’t competitive enough. We also struggled to manage tire degradation. We have a lot of work to do as a team before the next race. Spa is a very different track, so I hope it will suit us better. »
