Specific words from Lance Stroll: The Aston Martin driver complained about his AMR26 in China qualifying, ranting on the team radio about “the biggest pile of shit”
In view of the current situation at Aston Martin and the problems that appear to be caused primarily by the Honda drive unit, it is clear that neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll are really happy at the moment. This also became clear in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.
After his final attempt in Q1, which was ultimately not enough to progress, Stroll vented his frustration and complained loudly to his race engineer Gary Gannon. “This is the biggest pile of shit I’ve ever driven in my fucking life,” the Canadian grumbled on the team radio.
These were clear words from the Aston Martin driver, which came out of pure emotion immediately after crossing the finish line, but they were not an isolated incident: Because Stroll had already complained about an “undriveable” car during his first attempt, which was also clear from the onboard perspective.
The 27-year-old struggled with massive oversteer and grumbled about “bloody wheel lock”, which race engineer Gannon attributed primarily to temperatures being too low. A faster outlap was supposed to bring improvement on the second flying lap, but ultimately had little success.
In the end, Stroll missed out on Q2 by almost two seconds and was also around eight tenths of a second slower than team-mate Alonso. The Canadian’s frustration was huge afterwards, which was also evident in the interviews after the session.
In contrast to in the car, where Stroll openly expressed his opinion of the AMR26 in conversation with his race engineer, he was much more reserved without his helmet: he answered the journalists’ questions with a total of just eight words.
The situation is likely to be similar at the Japanese Grand Prix. Although engine partner Honda was able to make initial progress in terms of battery reliability in China, the exact cause of the vibrations, which even led to Alonso’s voluntary retirement, is still unclear.