Stroll blames Silverstone penalties on AMR26 woes

Lance Stroll said Aston Martin’s AMR26 was “aerodynamically very broken” after he picked up six track-limits violations and three five-second penalties in the British Grand Prix, arguing the car was so compromised that it was difficult to keep it within the white lines at Silverstone.

Stroll finished 19th and last of the classified runners in the 52-lap race. Under Formula 1’s track-limits rules, a driver can record three violations before each additional breach brings a five-second penalty. Stroll exceeded track limits six times in total, including three more infringements between laps 33 and 42 that triggered the trio of penalties.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets after the race, Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll accepted the sanctions while pointing to the car’s handling problems. “Maybe, I guess. We had a lot of understeer in the race and the car’s very broken, so it’s even hard to stay within the track limits,” he said. “A lot of different behaviour every lap, every corner. Just a challenging race. The whole year has been so far.”

When asked if he meant the car had suffered physical damage during the race, Stroll made clear he was talking about a deeper aerodynamic weakness rather than a mechanical failure. “No, just aerodynamically very broken,” he said.

That assessment matched what was visible on board, with Stroll making large steering corrections through high-speed sections such as Copse and Maggotts-Becketts as he fought understeer and instability.

The severity of his description puts extra attention on Aston Martin’s next upgrade, due to debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix later this month. Team principal Adrian Newey said last week the revised AMR26 should make a “large step” in performance, with weight reduction planned for the chassis and gearbox architecture along with changes to the rear suspension, nose and aerodynamic surfaces. A Honda power-unit update is also scheduled for the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break.