Lawrence Stroll
Formula 1 is seething. Lawrence Stroll, very rich Aston Martin team owner, wants to sue the motorsport “premier class”.
In the past season, Aston Martin – at that time still under the name Racing Point – was one of the first Mercedes chasers. No wonder, the racing team had finally copied parts of the “Silver Arrows” and was therefore punished in the so-called “Copygate” affair.
Currently, Sebastian Vettel's team and his son Lance Stroll are only following behind. The dominance of Mercedes – and with it the strength of Aston Martin – has disappeared due to a rule change. Reason enough for Stroll to pursue a lawsuit against the world association FIA and possibly also the Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media, reports “Sport1”.
The reason for this: In the current season, there is a rule change in the bolides that affects the underbody and ensures less downforce. Already at the season opener in Bahrain it became clear that cars with a higher angle of attack (Red Bull, Alpha Tauri) can cope better with the new underbody, and that Mercedes and above all Aston Martin are struggling hard.
Stroll's argument: The rule change was launched after Pirelli had initially planned not to design a new tire for the transition season 2021, and then had safety concerns about faster cars. “But as soon as the changes were decided, Pirelli announced that they would also bring a new tire construction,” argued team boss Otmar Szafnauer.
So behind the scenes, the racing team is speculating that the change to the underbody should only have the purpose of slowing down Mercedes – and thus Aston Martin -, although safety concerns were raised. One sees “arbitrary distortion of competition”, it should therefore say in the planned complaint.
Szafnauer told “Sky”: “Now you have to find out what and why something happened and then see what you can do to make everything fairer.”
In plain language: Aston Martin wants to force it to be allowed to convert the car in order to be able to drive a low angle of attack. Modifications to the chassis are currently prohibited. “It was made clear by all of us who drive a small angle of attack that the changes have a greater effect on us. That is how it happened,” continued Szafnauer.
In any case, the Aston Martin advance is not well received by the other teams, as Franz Tost explained. “Everyone has agreed to the rules. Everyone has to deal with the rules and the new tires. Some did a good job, others didn't. Mercedes won the first race. In contrast to Aston Martin, they seem quite good with the new rules to get along, “said the Alpha Tauri team boss. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto was reminded of his team's situation last season: “After all, the rules are the same for everyone,” said the Italian. And the long-awaited new set of rules will take effect in the coming season anyway …
