Alonso and Stroll experience tough weekend in Baku
Baku City CircuitThe Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Round 15 of the Formula 1 season, took place at Baku City Circuit.
Following grid penalties for changing power unit (PU) components, Fernando Alonso started from P21, with Lance Stroll lining up in P22. Both drivers started the race on Soft tyres.
Alonso passed one of the Cadillacs immediately after the start. Although he lost a position on the approach to Turn 1, he overtook two cars between the exit of Turn 1 and the exit of Turn 2 to move up to P19. He then challenged Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), who was running in P18, but was unable to complete the move and remained in P19.
On the main straight at the end of the opening lap, Sergio Perez (Cadillac), who had been running around 0.7 seconds behind Alonso, used the tow to make the pass, dropping Alonso back to P20.
At the end of Lap 3, Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) also passed Alonso on the main straight, moving him down to P21. Alonso then continued at a similar pace to Bottas ahead, running around one second behind him.
On Lap 7, Stroll reported that the car was unstable. On the following lap, he was instructed by the team to stop the car and pulled into the escape road at Turn 15, retiring from the race. The team later confirmed that he had suffered a water pressure issue.
Alonso continued in P21 before pitting at the end of Lap 20 and retiring from the race. After the race, he explained that the car had been losing a significant amount of time on the straights, leading to the decision to retire.
Both cars started the race with new PU components, but both Stroll and Alonso retired during the race.
Unfortunately, we had to retire the car as we seemed to be losing a lot of time on the straights and so we need to analyse this further. We knew this weekend wasn’t going to be a strong one for us and it proved to be the case. It’s where we are right now and let’s see if we can have a stronger weekend in Malaysia.
Unfortunately, we had to retire the car as we seemed to be losing a lot of time on the straights and so we need to analyse this further. We knew this weekend wasn’t going to be a strong one for us and it proved to be the case. It’s where we are right now and let’s see if we can have a stronger weekend in Malaysia.
We had a water pressure issue, so I was told to stop the car. It's been another tough week, but we know the situation we are dealing with this year. There aren't many positives to take away. The focus is on improving these issues for the upcoming races and as we look further ahead to 2027.
We had a water pressure issue, so I was told to stop the car. It's been another tough week, but we know the situation we are dealing with this year. There aren't many positives to take away. The focus is on improving these issues for the upcoming races and as we look further ahead to 2027.
There was not a huge amount to fight for today with our pace on this circuit. Lance’s race ended early on lap eight with a water pressure issue and we asked him to stop the car. Fernando reported suspected PU issues and was losing some time on the straights before he retired on lap 20. We will analyse and regroup in time for our visit to Sepang next week.
There was not a huge amount to fight for today with our pace on this circuit. Lance’s race ended early on lap eight with a water pressure issue and we asked him to stop the car. Fernando reported suspected PU issues and was losing some time on the straights before he retired on lap 20. We will analyse and regroup in time for our visit to Sepang next week.
It was a tough lesson learnt in Baku this weekend. We knew the long straight configuration would be a challenge for our current package. We have tried to minimise the time lost, but we were simply out of solutions with the tools we have available for now. This was a character-building weekend for everyone. I would like to thank the whole team for pushing no matter how hard the road is ahead of us.
It was a tough lesson learnt in Baku this weekend. We knew the long straight configuration would be a challenge for our current package. We have tried to minimise the time lost, but we were simply out of solutions with the tools we have available for now. This was a character-building weekend for everyone. I would like to thank the whole team for pushing no matter how hard the road is ahead of us.
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