After a disappointing first race weekend under their new branding of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 Team, the Silverstone-based team will be hoping to bounce back and have a good weekend and so far the weekend has been smooth which is definitely a positive compared to Bahrain.
Lance Stroll is looking forward to returning to Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari because it is such a good circuit to drive, the ‘older style’ circuits encouraging you to push the limits of the tracks and attack the kerbs. The circuit punishes even the slightest errors, with gravel surrounding the edge of the track and we saw some learning this the hard way with both Nikita Mazepin and Valterri Bottas taking brief trips off the track and losing the rear of their car.
“It is great to be back in Imola because it is such an awesome circuit. It is really satisfying to drive, especially the way you can attack the circuit and use the kerbs. It reminds me of my karting days. I would call it an old school circuit; it punishes errors, and I think that’s why the drivers enjoy it so much. It is quite different from the open layout of Bahrain and the car naturally feels different as a result.”
The car felt good for Stroll and the Canadian managed to get through most of the programs that they set out to do at the start of the day, after all of this running they have collected lots of useful data but so far the car is looking good and Stroll is optimistic ahead of the weekend.
“But I felt good today and we completed some important work. We now have plenty of information to analyse this evening, but it has been a promising start to the weekend.”
“Today’s programme involved testing some new aero parts and the early signs are encouraging” – Sebastian Vettel
The Bahrain Grand Prix was not the dream start for four-time world-champion Sebastian Vettel who locked up and hit the rear of Esteban Ocon after starting from the back of the race due to receiving a grid penalty for not backing off through yellow flags.
Part of todays running included testing some new aero parts and the early signs from this running is encouraging – especially in how the car feels for Vettel to drive which should help us to take a step forward in terms of performance with Vettel already predicting for this weekend to be a better one than Bahrain was.
“Part of today’s programme involved testing some new aero parts and the early signs are encouraging – especially in terms of my feeling in the car. That should help us take a step forward this weekend.”
It has been a huge learning curve and a lot of work has been done in the three week break between the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix which has helped us to make improvements ahead of this weekend. All of this data collected will help the team that runs British Racing Green dominated livery to make a step towards being as competitive as they were in 2020.
“We learned a huge amount from the first race and the work over the last few weeks – in the factory and here at the track – has certainly helped us make some improvements ahead of this weekend. I think the data we have from today’s sessions will help us take some more steps forward ahead of qualifying.”
