Aston Martin has greatly benefited from Fernando Alonso’s championship skills and his racing expertise. They had a dream start to the season and were once considered contenders for a win. However, as the races progressed, they fell behind other teams in terms of development and couldn’t keep up with the improved McLarens or Mercedes
Qatar GP was one of the most difficult races this season with most off the drivers getting sick from the extreme heat during the gruesome race. They were agonized over the conditions and this situation raised a lot of questions about decision to shift Qatar GP earlier.
Aston Martin’s Mike Krack eyes solutions for Qatar GP problems
Fernando Alonso was affected by adverse conditions during the race as he complained about his seat burning in the Aston Martin AMR23. Despite the Qatar GP being a night race, the heat was on par with daytime conditions
Aston Martin team principal, Mike Crack, has been suggesting solutions for a new problem during races. Mike Crack suggested the idea of ‘air conditioning’ in cars and mentioned that they were not far from implementing it.
“It is not that we have not done anything because it also happened in Singapore, which we thought was much better, but obviously here we had another set of extreme conditions.
“I don’t think we are far from air conditioning.”
Speaking about possible active cooling the car he mentioned, “They are all heating up and you try to isolate the seat from it but also, you do not want to have any kind of active cooling because it is just weight.”
The entire F1 paddock has been under a dilemma with the heating issue and drivers complaining about extreme temperatures in cockpit.
Alonso’s seat burn drama adds layer to Qatar GP
Fernando Alonso survived the Qatar GP in better condition than other drivers but he had his fair share of difficulties as he reported about seat burn issues in first 15 laps of the race.
“I think for Lance and myself, both of us, we were struggling a little bit with temperature in the seat on the right-hand side,” said Alonso. “I got like burned in the first 15 laps so I even asked on the radio if they could throw me some water or something at the pit stop, which apparently is not allowed.”
Fernando wanted water thrown over him to cool down during the race, but due to the risk of increasing the vehicle’s weight beyond the race’s minimum limits, Aston Martin couldn’t assist him without breaking the rules.
DO you think Qatar GP should be omitted or shifted towards the latter part of the year?
