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AlphaTauri finds answers to Tsunoda’s crabbing F1 car in Baku

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Tsunoda was forced to withdraw from Saturday’s race in Azerbaijan after a strange start two laps into the sprint.

After a clash with teammate Nick de Vries, the Japanese scraped a wall on the opening lap and when he returned to the pits his right rear tire flew off the rim – briefly rolling off the track.

After returning to the pits for a tire change, Kakuta faced a new challenge when he returned to the race, as he discovered that the right rear wheel and suspension were out of balance.

His car was moving slowly for a lap before he pitted and retired.

AlphaTauri was fined by the FIA ​​for an unsafe release after the governing body felt the team could have done more to check that the car was safe before releasing it.

However, AlphaTauri’s own investigation this week concluded that the suspension was intact when the car left the pits, and that the rear tie rod only failed when the right hand from the pit exit passed the load.

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, AlphaTauri’s head of vehicle performance Guillaume Dezoteux told Autosport that analysis after the fact painted a slightly different picture than what happened that day.

“We did a lot of research on sprinting,” he said. “And in fact, when Yuki stopped, the car was undamaged and could be released safely.

Tsunoda also suffered a puncture earlier in the weekend

Tsunoda also suffered a puncture earlier in the weekend

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

“We’ve seen the right rear suspension fail on the exit from the pit lane and then the car becomes a three-wheeler that you see on TV.”

Dezoteux explained that the mechanics did perform a thorough inspection of the suspension during the pit stop and found nothing wrong – and the data after the fact confirmed this.

“During the pit stop, we did look at it,” he said. “We couldn’t see any damage, we saw in data and video footage that this (suspension broke) only happened later.

“There was no movement and freedom in the rear suspension at the time, so we decided to send the car out.

“It’s a relief for us, for sure, because it’s always difficult to deal with situations like this. We’re happy to see that in the end we’ll be able to make a judgment call because we never intended to use three Wheels to send it out.”

team progress

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

AlphaTauri has had a rocky start to the season but has started to make some progress – Tsunoda entered the third quarter in Baku and brought home a top-10 finish.

Dezoteux said the Azerbaijani circuit’s features are good for his team’s 2023 car, which also bodes well for its chances in Miami.

“This track layout is conducive to good powerplant performance and (aero) efficient packages,” he said. “There’s not a lot of air load sensitivity there, which helps us.

“We have good mechanical grip and, in terms of setup, we have chosen a car that is very compliant and easier to drive to help the drivers get uphill quickly on this track.

“It paid off for Yuki, but it was difficult for Nyck because there was so little free practice time and the few laps you got, it was all about getting into qualifying.”

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Marko on excelling Verstappen: 'Apart from that it was perfect'

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Max Verstappen has 26 points after the weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Helmut Marko is very pleased with his driver’s fifth victory of the season. Afterwards, the 80-year-old Austrian veteran also talked about Verstappen’s insistence on driving the fastest time.

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Leclerc missing out on points in Spain: ‘Will analyse what went wrong'

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Charles Leclerc finished a rather disappointing race in Spain. After qualifying 19th and starting from the pit lane, the Monaco driver was unable to overtake Pierre Gasly on the final lap and finished just outside the points points for 11th. His teammate Carlos Sainz finished fifth.

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Barcelona exposed Ferrari’s F1 tyre weakness

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Sainz finished second in his home race, but as in previous races, the Ferrari’s relatively poor pace left him behind and his Ferrari struggled in the bumpy and fast nature of the Barcelona track as It is surpassed by Mercedes in tire management.

After the first early stint, Sainz switched from the soft to the hard tyre, allowing Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to easily pass him later on the fresher, faster medium tyre.

Team-mate George Russell also followed Hamilton to claim the Mercedes double behind runaway leader Max Verstappen, while Sainz was beaten by Sergio Perez’s second Red Bull in the closing stages. down to fifth, which started at 11th.

While Sainz was losing ground, his team-mate Charles Leclerc struggled to make progress on his pit lane start to finish 11th.

Sainz said the race exposed Ferrari’s tendency to grind tires, a recurring problem exacerbated by Barcelona’s many high-speed right-handers who struggled in the left front corner.

“Honestly, I managed the tires the whole race because we knew we were tough on them and on this high track, I just couldn’t push,” Sainz said.

“We knew it was a weak point in our car and when we were on a hot track and two races we were just managing the whole way, trying to hit the target laps and still not hitting the target laps in some of those laps.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Lance Walk, Aston Martin AMR23, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Lance Walk, Aston Martin AMR23, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

“The weakness of our car is on full display in fast corners like this and our tires are struggling. But it also shows that we must have done a pretty good lap yesterday.

“I think it was like that again today, kind of going back to the current pace of racing in the car, yes, maybe this kind of track is not very good for us.”

Ferrari’s racing pace has suffered after a comprehensive upgrade this weekend, including improved sidepods.

Sainz praised his team for fast-tracking the updates, arguing that Ferrari just hasn’t been able to take advantage of them as it brings new components to its “weakest track” so far in 2023.

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“It’s hard to say,” he replied when asked if the update had the desired effect.

“I know the factory has put a lot of effort into bringing them in. Probably because of the characteristics of the track, we’ve taken them to the weakest track of the season. So we may not have seen the best of them yet.

“I still believe we’ll never be very competitive here because of our bounce and high-speed weaknesses.

“So, it’s too early to tell, but I think they’ve worked really hard to make it happen, so hats off to all the factories, let’s keep going, let’s keep improving.”

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