(Motorsport-Total.com) – If you believe brand ambassador Pedro de la Rosa, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel for Aston Martin. “Definitely not yet,” were his words to this question in the FIA press conference.
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The AMR26 is currently struggling with both the Honda power unit and its chassis. In the Constructors’ Championship, they are in last place and have not yet scored a single point. Major updates are only planned for the summer.
“We currently have a very difficult car,” explains de la Rosa in the press conference. “The drivers are doing their best and doing an incredible job driving this car as fast as they can, reliably and safely. But that’s hard.”
“I would prefer to be able to answer [questions] about the light at the end of the tunnel later, when we have actual upgrades on the car and can refer to facts,” emphasizes the 55-year-old. “We have talked so much about the light at the end of the tunnel, about what can be done, that sometimes we just repeat ourselves a little too much.”
De la Rosa does not name a specific factor why Aston Martin has struggled so much with its car so far. Instead, the former McLaren driver highlights how difficult the situation is for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at the moment.
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At least the seat problems Alonso struggled with in Canada are no longer an issue: “Fernando said nothing about his seat in FP1, which is also positive,” explains de la Rosa. “That means all the work done at the track since Tuesday to put the 25-seat into the 26-car has worked.”
Nevertheless, the brand ambassador admits: “However, Lance complained about seat problems. So we have to solve other problems, but it’s going in the right direction.”
On Friday, Alonso also caused a brief scare when the two-time world champion grazed the guardrail at the entrance to the Nouvelle chicane.
“Behind the scenes, many things are happening in the factory that make us believe that the upgrades in the summer will make a big difference,” de la Rosa concludes.
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