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3 hours ago
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Aston Martin have had their major upgrades but were right at the back of the grid again in Monza. Have the upgrades just failed? - Colin
Aston Martin had a major car upgrade in Hungary two races ago, and a "spec two" Honda engine at the race before Italy in Zandvoort, on either side of the summer break.
There is no question the car upgrade worked. What was effectively an all-new car, apart from the rear suspension and gearbox, cut lap times by about two seconds.
Fernando Alonso made it into the second part of qualifying for the first time all year in Hungary, and drove an outstanding race to finish ninth on merit in the Netherlands, on a one-stop strategy, holding at arm's length the faster Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Racing Bull of Yuki Tsunoda in the final stint.
More upgrades are expected, in the form of a weight reduction around the gearbox, for either Madrid this weekend or Azerbaijan.
The Honda engine upgrade that made its debut in Zandvoort has been less impressive, which is why Aston Martin found themselves at the back again on the power-sensitive Monza track.
Trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara says Honda "observed a step forward in terms of performance from our metrics".
But if there has been one, it is small. Drivability of the spec two in Zandvoort was noticeably worse, too, although it had made a step forward in Italy.
The Aston Martin car seems to be a midfield-level chassis now, somewhere around the borderline of getting into the final part of qualifying, depending on circuit layout, if it had a competitive engine.
And on the chassis side, the team have a sense of direction that gives them confidence they can make another step next season.
With Honda, which still has comfortably the worst engine in F1, the upgrade has been less reassuring.
What is the new Madring circuit in Spain like in terms of power compared to all the previously visited circuits? Who is it expected to suit most of all? - Andrew
The Madrid circuit which makes its debut this weekend has been built from scratch.
The circuit layout has lots of corners, and it is expected to have a low power sensitivity, around the level of Zandvoort.
Medium-speed corners predominate. And overtaking is expected to be difficult - again, like Zandvoort, or even Hungary.
Given Lando Norris took dominant wins in the Netherlands and Hungary, some teams believe McLaren might be favourites heading into this weekend, but McLaren themselves are not so sure.
Hungary and Zandvoort have long-duration corners, where the McLaren excels. But the Madring corners are generally short duration, the exception being the long, banked Monumental, which is expected to be flat out.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said after the race in Monza on Sunday: "We still think that tracks like Baku and Madrid, where you have to be very precise with the trajectory, short corners, maybe they don't play to the best of our car.
"Yet, we have to say that in Zandvoort and Hungary we were in position to win races and here, while we were not, we know that it's a special race.
"Drag will be less important in Madrid. There is a much higher density of corners. We will definitely give it a go."
New tracks always throw up surprises. So, in short, while one can speculate about car and circuit characteristics all one wants, no one will actually know until qualifying on Saturday.
