As Crash.net reports, the Singapore Grand Prix weekend brought immediate trouble for Aston Martin when both cars required component changes that forced Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll to start from the pit lane. The alterations made under Parc Fermé conditions immediately sparked a disagreement between the driver and his engine supplier over the mechanical health of the car.
Speaking to AS, Alonso maintained that his Saturday turbo had suffered a failure and required replacement regardless of the rules. “Yesterday’s turbo was broken and had to be replaced, no matter what,” the Spaniard stated.
A lot of energy deployment problems in the race, not deploying in the right place at the right time, especially after the virtual safety cars,
However, Chief Engineer Shintaro Orihara directly contradicted that narrative when addressing the media at the end of the weekend. “It was not broken,” Orihara insisted, clarifying that the swap happened entirely at the driver's instruction. “But we decided to change the component based on Fernando’s feedback. So, on the data, we still haven’t seen any equation. But the driver is the best sensor, so we decided to replace the unit based on his comment.” Orihara added that the team would use the two-week break to thoroughly check the component and ensure it functions properly.
Unfortunately, swapping the hardware did not cure the machine's woes on Sunday. New gremlins appeared during the race, leaving Alonso battling frustrating energy deployment faults throughout the grand prix.
“A lot of energy deployment problems in the race, not deploying in the right place at the right time, especially after the virtual safety cars,” Alonso explained after the chequered flag. “We lost a lot of places and a lot of ground with the lack of deployment. So yeah, we need to look at that.”
Addressing those deployment troubles, Orihara pointed to the complexities of the current rules on tight circuits like Singapore. “A difficult point in this type of track in this regulation is in energy; at each corner, the harvest power is different,” the engineer said. “Then we need to also tune for driveability and also boost, following. I believe another manufacturer is trying to get the best driveability and also a boost in following. So not performance difference coming from power itself, also energy management and also driveability, boost while following. This is a very complicated regulation.”
