Photo: XPB Images
Aston Martin expected a better result in the Qatar Formula 1 GP sprint race, but Fernando Alonso finished in P8 (actually P9, but he benefited from Charles Leclerc’s penalty and therefore moved one position), while Lance Stroll finished in P13, but dropped to P15 as he was also penalized.
Mike Krack, Team Principal: “There was a mix of tire choices on the grid, which created a lot of action and drama in tonight’s sprint race. Both drivers had consistent races and we managed to score a point with Fernando in eighth position. But Sunday is the priority and the work we have done today leaves us well placed to score more points tomorrow,” he concluded.
Alonso: “We prioritized tomorrow’s race with the tire choice for tonight’s Sprint and we managed to secure eighth place, after Charles (Leclerc’s) penalty. It was very exciting with all the competition on the track, but the soft tires were not ideal for the final laps with heavy degradation. We don’t know how many pit stops there will be tomorrow, so we have to keep our strategy open. We saved a few sets of tires, so hopefully we can maximize that and get into the top five. Congratulations to Max (Verstappen) for his third Drivers’ Championship, he dominated the season and he deserves it,” he added.
Stroll: “Today was a tough sprint race. The temperatures were extremely high and we had very heavy tire degradation on the track. The first few laps were pretty good and I managed to overtake Valtteri (Bottas) during this phase, but I quickly lost grip after that so I couldn’t progress much further. We chose to stop during the third safety car and put on a set of used soft tires, but we were running out of laps and Yuki (Tsunoda) was defending strongly. We’re taking a lot more data for tomorrow’s race, so we’ll look at it tonight and see what’s possible.
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