Lance Stroll on brake fires: AM went too aggressive

With Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel’s brakes on fire on the Imola grid, Stroll says the team went “too aggressive” in warming up the brakes.

Judging by those fires, it is safe to say overly aggressively.

Both Stroll and Vettel’s rear brakes caught fire on the way to the grid at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, burning through the casing.

But while Aston Martin were able to repair Stroll’s car in time for the five minute warning, Vettel’s wasn’t, which forced him into a pit lane start.

The German was also handed a time penalty during the race as his mechanics did not have the tyres fitted to his AMR21 before the five minute signal.

Aston Martin said in the immediate aftermath that they would investigate the cause of the fires with Stroll revealing it was the team’s decision to go “aggressive” in warming the brakes that caused the problem.

“At Imola we suffered with the braking distributor,” he said as quoted by formulapassion.it, “but we know what it is due to.

“We were too aggressive in the way we wanted to warm up the brakes. Now we know how to do it differently.”

More pre-race drama, with Lance Stroll's rear-right brake alight

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The Canadian went onto score points at Imola, bringing his car home in eighth place.

It was Stroll’s second top-ten result in as many races, although he does still feel that Aston Martin are paying the price for running a low-rake car.

According to his team’s bosses, and also those at Mercedes, teams with low-rake cars have lost more downforce with this year’s rule changes than their high-rake counterparts.

“In general, as far as the balance of the car is concerned, we are not so bad,” Stroll said. “We’re just running out of downforce, we certainly need to find it.

“Of course, the change in regulations has penalised and affected us. Cars with a less pronounced rake are paying the price and we are among them.

“However, we have a plan for the rest of the year. This is what we are focusing on.”

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