Those events saw three out of four starts made from the pitlane as the team tried to learn more about the update package it debuted at Circuit of the Americas. And just to make life even tougher, Fernando Alonso was forced to retire from both races with floor damage.
And yet, just days after the Mexican disappointment, the team showed both pace and operational savvy at Interlagos as the green cars were beaten only by two men who have between them secured 15 of this season’s 20 pole positions. Lance Stroll took his best grid position of the year in third, while Alonso will start Sunday's Grand Prix alongside him in fourth.
There’s still a long way to go this weekend, but Friday afternoon was a huge fillip for an organisation that has been in the spotlight recently.
“We needed it,” said Alonso after the session. “I think the last two Grands Prix we were a little bit experimental. And we were starting from the pitlane, all this kind of thing.
“So we needed a nice result here in Brazil, for both cars, to give us some hope in the team, and just proof that we understood a few things, and we are quite competitive. So this proves that we know what we're doing, and I'm happy with that.”
Team boss Mike Krack promised after the Mexican race that Aston would rely on the data to determine what it would run this weekend in Brazil, and not necessarily push on with the complete new package come what may just to prove a point. The engineers decided what would work best for the specific challenges of Interlagos, combining elements of old and new.
There were encouraging signs when Stroll was sixth in FP1. As ever you can never be sure what everyone is doing in practice, but come qualifying that performance was backed up.
Source: Autosport