F1: Aston Marton working hard to fix their slow race car

The Cognizant Aston Martin F1 team has a problem. Since Lawrence Stroll bought the team it has gone from a race winner to a back-of-the-grid team.

Even the Haas team is miles ahead of it now. Stroll is not happy.

Mike Krack, the Team Principal of the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, admitted their poor performance and said the team will head home to lick their wounds with the aim of improving the AMR22 before the Australian Grand Prix.

A despondent Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1, watches as his team get crushed in Jeddah.

“We decided to split our tire strategy today [for the Saudi Arabian GP] – Lance started on Mediums, Nico on Hards – and the Safety Car that was deployed as a result of [Nicholas] Latifi’s lap-sixteen accident at Turn twenty-seven disadvantaged those who had started on Hards,” said Krack.

“After that, Nico was always on the back foot, but he drove a solid race all the same and ended up twelfth. Lance moved up a place at the start, was soon passed by [Lewis] Hamilton, then reported a handling imbalance.

Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin AMR22, leads Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42, and Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

“Within a few laps of the end he was running eleventh, but he then had a coming-together with [Alex] Albon, sustaining light damage to his car. He was forced to slow, but he brought the car home, albeit lapped.

“Obviously, we are disappointed not to have scored any points today, but from here we will travel back to Silverstone, where we will work hard to improve our car for the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.”

Good luck with that.