This is Aston Martin's first season back in Formula One since they left the racing scene in 1960. This is a big deal for the company yet they are making stupid mistakes and getting caught out. This is not a new team so there can be no excuses as they were rebranded from Racing Point. The personnel know exactly what they are doing and one wonders if they have just been lucky up until now which I think could well be the case.
Sebastien Vettel came second at the Hungarian Grand Prix only to be disqualified afterwards. The problem happened when his car ran out of fuel after the finish line which raises red flags and questions are asked. The FIA and Formula One have a strict rule that 1 liter of fuel needs to be taken by official after the race for testing. Obviously there was none left and why he was disqualified.
This is the second time the Aston Martin team has been caught out this season breaking the rules and one wonders why they just keep doing it. First we saw Lance Stroll have a blow out at Baku that turned out the team were playing with tyre pressures and not sticking to the guidelines.
The Aston Martin team finished 4th last season behind McLaren which was a great effort considering they had points deducted for certain irregularities on their car. Many disagreed with the rulings as the then Racing Point/Aston Martin had bent the rules in their favor, but had not broken them.
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The teams that complained were McLaren and Renault who are now sitting above them in the Constructors table at the half way point. Currently sitting in 7th spot way behind McLaren and Ferrari. Considering every championship point is worth $1 million they have plenty of catching up to do. At the end of the day all the teams are businesses on their own and they are here to enjoy themselves and also make profit.
When Vettel was disqualified the team appealed and have since withdrawn the appeal and accepted their fate. This is not like Lance Stroll who is more like a bull in a china shop when his team is attacked as he always comes out swinging. To meekly accept and roll over tells us the story of a faulty fuel pump may have just been a cover story to save face in the press.
The recent disqualification was 18 points or $18 million thrown away which surely was not worth the risk. I am not saying they are cheating but they are definitely taking the high risk, high reward approach which is not paying off and are just handing points to the teams they are trying to beat. Sometimes the harder you try the harder you fall and this is definitely the case with Aston Martin. The second half of the season should see them climb up into 5th or 6th otherwise this season is going down as a complete failure. Losing ground to your competitors means you have work to do and pushing the limits to this extent will never pay off.